Fantasy Unleashed (Prototype Version)
by Xamusel - Gamma 11
Summary: When Naruto retains his mother and gains a sister, what in all reality is due to happen, especially when a multi-faceted change is coming? The answer? A whole lot more than one would expect. Prototype (see inside for more details) Naruto/Anima: Beyond Fantasy/Nasuverse/Guilty Crown/Fire Emblem/Multi-crossover
1. Chapter 1

**Fantasy Unleashed**

_Story written by Xamusel and F-14 Tomcat Lover_

Disclaimer: Tomcat and I own absolutely nothing about this fanfic in general. We only own whatever OCs might be involved in this.

**Xamusel Beginning A/N: Why I decided to write this story, I'll have absolutely no idea, but I thought it was a good idea at the time. Now, though, I need to ensure that I get this story back in tip-top shape for posting.**

**This story has an opening scene as found in the first episode, but modified to account for alternate universe stuff… which I won't spoil what it means for this story, because that would be utterly stupid of me to do. Also, if anyone is interested in finding out the Crossover materials used, I'll list them at the end of the World Arc.**

**Now… may the wheels of fate turn to show what all will be changed.**

* * *

_Ten years ago, a Nine Tailed Fox Demon suddenly appeared! Its tails lashed out, crushing mountains and sending tsunamis crashing to the shores! Each ninja rose to the task to defend their home ninja village._

"Hold the attack and wait for the Yondaime Hokage!" one ninja yelled out, before jumping forward to face the colossal demon as per his duty.

"It's getting closer! Don't let it get near the village!" another ninja yelled, throwing his kunai before he, too, went up to face the demon.

_Suddenly, a giant toad appeared from nowhere, crushing a few trees beneath its webbed feet. On top of it was a Shinobi, clad in a white coat with red flames, his sunshine blonde hair standing out as he stood before the all-powerful demon. This was the Yondaime Hokage, leader and hero of the Hidden Leaf Village. He stood all alone against the titanic beast in a night of swirling light and energy, as he and his faithful friend clashed against the might of the demon._

_When the dust settled, no one was fully sure of the night. All we knew was that the demon was defeated. The battle, confusing and long, had been concluded. The demon sealed into a newborn infant. Such was the strength of the Kyuubi no Yoko._

_Now…_

_Had we known the truth then as we do now, we would not have breathed a sigh of relief…_

"NARUTO! AKAGI!"

"GET BACK HERE YOU TWO!"

**_-Sigh!-_**

_Case in point._

**_Prologue Arc_**

**_Pilot Part 1_**

**_Butterfly Flaps Make the World Go Round_**

Uzumaki Naruto, a sunshine blonde with cerulean eyes and the strangest whisker marks on his face, and his adopted sister Akagi, a redhead with orange eyes and equally strange whisker marks on her face, were currently running as if they didn't have a care in the world while holding paint buckets in their hands and having a mixed group of Chuunin and Jounin, who served under their mother, chasing them. There was a reason for this chase, and that was….

XxX

"Hokage-sama! It's an emergency!"

"If I had to guess…" the redhead spoke quietly as she strode to the top of the Hokage Mansion, a palatable anger barely suppressed beneath the surface of her charming and lovely face, "…my _son _and _daughter_…," the way she said that sent dread through the two Jounin who still remembered who it was before for them, "…are pulling pranks again, aren't they."

"I'm afraid so, Hokage-sama," the first Jounin spoke to her as the three climbed the steps to the roof. "I have no idea why they would go this far, though."

"Where did they strike this time?" Kushina let out a suffering sigh as they walked up the steps.

"The Hokage Faces," the second Jounin reported. A rather tacky and cheap vase sent by the Fire Lady as a 'gift' to the Hidden Leaf suddenly shattered as Kushina briefly glowed blue.

"Those two are so dead," the first Jounin whispered to his friend, who merely nodded as the three of them reached the roof to see the damage done.

"Erk?!" was Kushina's first reaction at the Hokage Faces, and for good reason.

The face of Senju Hashirama, the Shodaime Hokage, had three designs painted on it: something resembling a written character, slappishly painted in green and white, which only a child of 3 could do; what looked like a white booger coming out of the nose; and in red, the Uzumaki swirl.

Then the face of the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama, had three red slashes from his nose to his chin, blue eyelashes and cross shape scars and a yellow paint of coiled something or other.

After that was the Sandaime Hokage, who was standing next to Kushina with his ever present pipe in hand as he looked on his own face with white paint streaming from eyes and nose, with green and blue scar marks and red cheeks with eyes pointedly looking around the Yondaime's head at the Godaime.

"I know you're very beautiful Kushina-chan," the old Hokage chuckled lightly, "but I was happily married myself." Of course he would never admit the times he and Jiraiya had spied on her and the other ladies at the Hot Springs; otherwise, Sarutobi Hiruzen knew he would be that much closer to the end of his life.

"Actually," someone spoke up, noticing something. "I think that the eyes are actually looking over at the Hot Springs," the man said, as he pointed out that indeed the Hot Springs District was definitely there. A startled sound preceded by a smoke cloud from his pipe told how surprised and startled the retired Sandaime Hokage was at that, as he coughed and choked trying to clear his lungs to form coherent sentences.

As for the Yondaime Hokage, Uzumaki Kushina's late husband Namikaze Minato, and her own head, they looked like two blushing teenagers with all the looks of two stereotypical pathetic nerds trying to get together.

It was taking everything that Kushina had not to blow up and chase them around the village. She had a massive ninja force for that, after all. Though in all honesty, she had only one ninja she could turn to at the moment, the only other major prankster in the whole village able to catch the two as they fled around the village.

Oh yeah, there was also the trainer of Sarutobi Konohamaru as well.

"Iruka-kun."

"Here, Godaime Hokage," Iruka kneeled behind her to the right, a Chunin wearing the standard issue vest of his rank over a long sleeve navy blue shirt, navy blue slacks, his headband with the seal of Konoha on the metal plate, blue sandals, and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose and under both eyes, his black hair in a top knot.

"Ebisu-kun."

"Yes, your ladyship," Ebisu landed to Kushina's left, kneeling behind her, his attire of a long sleeved shirt, slacks, blue sandals, black bandanna with the metal plate with the seal of Konoha on it, and black simple round sun glasses.

Kushina then began sweetly, "Can you two catch those two so I can have a real long discussion with them?"

"At once, Hokage-sama," Ebisu shot off in pursuit of Akagi, as she was a safer chase for him compared to her brother.

"Will do, Madam Hokage," Iruka let out a long-suffering sigh. His annoyance was hot on his breath. "Although, I'll need to hold onto them for a lecture in class."

"Then do so," Kushina granted, and Iruka was off after Naruto, as he was always able to find that troublesome boy.

Kushina merely sighed and turned to look up at the defaced face of her husband, longing for him and his aid in rearing her troublesome children.

* * *

_Half an hour later…._

Naruto and Akagi were both tied up in their homeroom classroom as they ended up being berated by their main teacher, Umino Iruka, about what they had done. "I'm at the end of my rope here, you two!" Iruka started his lecture.

"I think you still have enough," Akagi deadpanned.

"You think that this is a cool way to spend your ninja career before it can begin?! I have to tell you, your methods of training are screwing up the whole village worse than any invading army could pull off!" Iruka lectured without stopping in mid-sentence like he would have before now. "If you want to succeed like your parents before you, then you have to pass the Genin Exam with better grades than you're showing right now, especially since I _know_ you two are better than this!"

Naruto had his eyes closed while he turned his head to his right, giving off a 'humph' while he did so, thus irritating Iruka even further.

"Fine! Because you two missed it, _everyone_ will have to review the Henge no Jutsu!" Iruka declared, making the whole class groan in disappointment.

* * *

Kushina organized her paperwork as she read through the reports. Kumo had backed down from its usual menacing of their borders. Largely, that was in response to the mutual threat of Kiri, the unstable village of the Five Great Villages. While she had never forgiven them for her kidnapping and the failed kidnapping of the Hyuuga heiress, resulting in the increasing tensions between the two different village's groups of ANBU, both knew that Kiri was both unstable and unpredictable.

The recent treaty both had signed in actual honesty saw that they were focusing more forces to dealing with missing ninja from Kiri and Kiri itself due to the ever increasing numbers of rogue factions in that village and its home country, the Land of Water.

"EARGH!" suddenly sounded from where the retired Sandaime was looking through his Crystal Ball.

"What the?" The redhead rose and walked into the room with Tiger and Boar covering her flanks.

What they found was The Professor out cold with blood coming from his nose. Then the three saw the Crystal Ball, still active, and there was Naruto laughing at two passed out Chunin. It didn't take long for Kushina to put two and two together and her face suddenly matched her hair.

_"He's a dead kid!"_

* * *

After the Ninja Academy let out for the day, Akagi and Naruto were both dragged by their mother to the Hokage Monument, making people wonder what happened to cause Kushina to do what she did… before they simply chalked it up as part of Naruto and Akagi's punishment. What the punishment was, nobody would know, at least not right now.

"Okay, you two," Kushina said to her kids when they made it to their destination. "I want to know if you two really are sorry for causing such a ruckus earlier today. If you are, you'll need to show me by cleaning the Monument of any paint, and I'll give you a good treat of Ramen, on me. If you don't, then you won't get your treat."

Their eyes shone brilliantly at that (the two of them had an insatiable hunger for Ramen that matched her own). Kushina looked on from above at her children's progress and was proud of the effort they put into cleaning the monument.

When her children finished cleaning the monument, there wasn't a single square centimeter of paint left. She thought of teaching them the Kage Bunshin technique… then decided against it for the time being. It was probably for the better that they didn't learn that for a while.

_'Less paperwork, too,'_ she thought, knowing how foxy her children could be.

Fifteen minutes later, Naruto, Akagi and their mother were sitting at their preferred Ramen establishment, Ichiraku, while they easily devoured their ramen in great amounts. Kushina was really happy that her children were good kids at heart, knowing when they were in the wrong about a major issue, and willing to make up for their shortcomings. Not only were the three of them there for Ramen….

"Oh, Hokage-sama, I'm glad that you got your children to clean the mess they made of the Hokage Monument."

...but Iruka was there as well, much to Akagi's annoyance.

Naruto, on the other hand, didn't mind. Iruka was like an older brother to him. True, it annoyed his sister sometimes, but Iruka was still very nice to her. He also helped to pay for some of their ramen from time to time when their mother was so busy being the Hokage.

"Naruto."

"Huh?" The boy looked up.

"Akagi?"

"Yes Iruka-sensei?" The girl also looked up.

Iruka had a thoughtful and curious look on his face as he eyed the two 10-year-olds before asking his question, "Why did you two decide to vandalize the Hokage Faces anyway?" Both blinked at the question. Though Kushina already had an idea herself, she still wanted to hear it from her children.

"You know the importance of the Hokage, being the children of not one, but two Hokage, correct." It was a statement. He knew Naruto would at least have an idea, since he wanted to be the Rokudaime Hokage himself and Akagi, well, truthfully, he didn't know her as well as he would like.

"Of course!" Naruto answered immediately, with a wide smile and his eyes closed, making him look like a jolly fox.

"We're told that our father protected the village during the last Shinobi War and, giving up his life to do so, vanquished the Kyuubi no Yoko, a feat said to be so unparalleled that it has brought to us a chance for peace," Akagi stated, recalling all she had been told and what she had learned over the years. She then looked down, forlornly, only for Kushina to wrap an arm around her and pull her in close, letting her know how much she loved her daugher, who smiled back weakly, though with some conviction.

"Then why did you two do that?" Iruka inquired. "If you know and believe that, why vandalize the Hokage Faces?"

Naruto laughed heartily, a joyous laugh full of youth and conviction, a sense of invincibility that adults no longer believe in as they get older, before he began speaking the why, "Because that's our way to say that 'we're gonna surpass our parents, believe it!'" Naruto declared happily. The orange tracksuited boy wore a wide happy-go-lucky grin. "I _will _be my _own _legend _and _Hokage! _ I'll_ make _my _way to the top on my _own _strength!"

Akagi merely smiled and nodded while maintaining her silence. Yes _she _would too _prove _her _own _strength. She was going to _prove _that _she _was_ Uzumaki Akagi_, a _kunoichi _greater than _her _mother! A new _ninja _legend all _her _own!

After all, she was…

"Akagi?"

The redheaded child blinked, looking to her side, orange eyes widening when she saw how close Naruto's face was to her own face.

Naruto, oblivious to this, asked, "Are you okay? You were a bit quiet there like-"

"Kyaa!" the red and white clad girl screamed and whacked Naruto upside the head as Kushina and Iruka both gave suffering sighs.

_'When will that boy learn?'_

* * *

Within the ruins of Uzushiogakure no Sato, there was a relatively intact building that had once been the part of the castle of the country's Daimyo. The building didn't look special and had thus avoided the serious damages of the other facilities within the walls. While the upper level didn't look special, there was a hidden tunnel that was so obvious that it was overlooked. This tunnel led to another part of the same building, protected by a battered but still holding door and serious seals designed to encourage attackers to leave rather than defeat them.

A room in that part of the building contained a cylindrical pod maintained by seals and machinery, occupied by a naked young girl that looked roughly like she was 10 or 11, her long blonde hair going down her back and her eyes closed. On one of the machines, a countdown sequence was finishing its run, which led to a defrosting stage in which the girl in the pod was able to get her bodily functions back into gear… after a few minutes of waiting for the defrosting at least.

When she opened her jade orbs, the girl looked around for signs of any of the servants that she asked to be around, only to realize….

"Where did everyone go?" she asked out loud, fear creeping into her voice. As she looked at the calendar, her blood froze. It was supposed to be the duty of the servants to update the calendars every single day, but the calendar that was there was last updated on October 2nd of RSY 572, and the calendar was covered with a heavy layer of dust!

Stepping out of the pod and into the room at large, the child genius walked over to a computer console that was attached to the main power generator and activated it, showing to her shock that it was almost a month over 26 years since the calendar was updated! Granted, the day she was put in the pod was October 29th of RSY 570, the same day that she was released this year.

Shaking in fear of what could have happened to her friends and family, Kagekiri Yamiko looked through the databases of everyone that lived in the country and any living relatives they might have, only to find that almost every last citizen of Uzushiogakure was dead. The only one left in the village that was alive was herself, and that would never count the golems that were made to help the village out at times of conflict, considering that golems were never alive to begin with.

Tears filling her eyes, Yamiko _almost_ missed the records under the name "Uzumaki", showing Kushina and her own family alive and well… sans a husband for some reason. When she saw Kushina's name….

"Kushina?" Yamiko whispered in shocked relief, glad to see her earlier friend was doing alright and with children of her own, prompting her to remember a conversation they had with each other.

_A six year old Yamiko was walking with her dear friend Kushina home from their classes in advanced Ninja Theory and Application when Kushina said, "Ya-chan, I sure wish we were sisters. Then we could always be together. Hey, I know! When we grow up, maybe one of your kids could marry one of my kids. Then we could be family!"_

_Yamiko looked doubtfully at Kushina and asked, "Really? You really think it'll work out that way, Ku-chan?"_

_With a nod to her friend, Kushina said, "Mmhmm! I know it'll work out, because we're such good friends, and friends look out for each other, right?"_

_Yamiko wanted to believe in the idea, even if she wasn't really sure it would work out. Still, given that this was one of her friends — no, her _only_ friend, she corrected herself — speaking…._

_"Y'know, I was taught that not everything works out the way we want," Yamiko said. Then, with a hand on her chin, she said, "But I hope it works out, anyway."_

_Giggling, Kushina said, "Silly Ya-chan. It _will_ work out, I just know it~!" As an afterthought, Kushina asked, "Hey, is it alright if I call you Yamiko?"_

_Blinking, Yamiko said, "Well, maybe my parents would say it's okay—"_

_"Yeah, but what about you? Do you mind if I call you Yamiko?" Kushina asked Yamiko._

_Yamiko was quiet for a moment, but then she smiled a wholehearted smile. "Yes," she said. "I'd like that… then I'll call you Kushina."_

___It was later that year when Kushina had to leave Uzushiogakure, but when it happened, Yamiko promised to make sure that things were safe for being with her friend later on._

Yamiko shook her head, clearing her mind of the memory for the time being. She needed to figure out how to get to where Kushina lived now, but she didn't know anyone in the area of the village ruins that could possibly take her to where Kushina was last heard from… if anyone was still alive in the vicinity of the ruins.

Sighing, she walked over to her room, feeling miffed that she forgot to keep her clothes nearby or in a sealing array that would keep them from wearing them out over time. It was going to be a cold day from what she could tell, and she didn't want to deal with the weather right now. She sure hoped there was something she could find to wear in her bedroom.

XxX

Two men screamed in horror just before their bodies exploded. Such was their fate, as the two were the last of the slavers in the hidden series of tunnels they used to store the young women and girls they kept. The group they had belonged to had mistaken a seemingly cute little blonde girl for being easy prey and quick cash in the pocket. Instead, in an ironic twist, the inevitable fate had finally caught up to the group of slavers in the form of one very irate Kyuubi no Jaakuna Kitsune as the young girl turned out to be.

She had played coy, pretending to be frightened and scared, and then lured them into a false sense of security and control. She had allowed them to come close, so tantalizing close that they were nearly foaming at the mouth with the thought of the money they could make selling her to any number of customers…

Then she ripped away their illusions, and replaced them with the grim and dark reality of death.

She had not paid attention to their terror or their pleas, attacking them with an aurora of sheer malice. Their defenses and tools turned against them. She struck without mercy, killing them all as they fled, but they were trapped and they knew it.

Then, she killed them off, alone or in groups until only two were left and then... in one final, drawn-out step crushed both of the last survivors.

The seemingly innocent face had only pure joy and revelry at the deaths of the slavers. Their screams of terror were such a high for her. The deep resonance of terror, fear, horror, and realization that they were going to die, filled her with ecstasy that she so enjoyed.

It made it worth being in her current form and allowed her to bleed off some stress that had been building up inside of her.

Though normally, after such a venting, she would go find a man and enjoy the next few nights, usually with new partners as few humans could keep up with her. But not in the imperfect form she had been left in. Her power nearly completely robbed of her.

"And on top of that," she grumbled angrily as she turned to leave the current -and she found the term ironically joyful- dead end, "they were a group only interested in females," she huffed a bit and while she would have likely done the same, in this form she felt a bit queasy at the thought of being sold off.

She stalked back to the main tunnel. The results of her rampage could be easily seen in the results left. Yet for her, she hardly paid attention, though now she felt herself to be more dignified and so she stepped around the messes she had created in her spree. She already knew she would likely have to seek out fresh clothes and a way to clean herself off.

It annoyed her, but she forgot one important detail during her assault…

With most of her power gone, she couldn't just clean herself easily anymore. She would actually need fresh clothes and a bath. While she loved baths, she wouldn't be Japanese if she didn't; she hated the idea of laundry. She wasn't some stupid mortal, after all, who obsessed with keeping clean. With her true power, she could just stay clean.

"How annoying," she stated to the air as she walked by the empty cells she was certain teenage girls and young women were placed into before being shipped off to some rural backwards area in need of young brides to produce more children, "And I'm supposed to be the 'evil' one, HA!" she laughed at the ridiculous nature of the base born humans, no matter the dimension.

She passed by the cells that were supposed to hold playmates for the wealthy offspring and sneered; she would be far more powerful than any human ever born.

Turning at the area used to train others into being barmaids, items still neatly stacked and ready for use, she made her way back towards the front. Though, as she was leaving, she heard a sniffle as her ears perked and she looked around the place for the first time since arriving.

There were children held in cages and cells all around her with others chained or strapped to the walls. Girls about her own age and others slightly older and younger, at least in appearance of the age she appeared. As her blue eyes scanned the group, she noted that there was no similarity between them all. They simply came from all over the place and covered about every part of the spectrum. Only that they looked miserable and frightened gave them anything similar.

_'Good,'_ she thought and prepared to leave, but then huffed in annoyance as one girl, chained to a cart ready to leave, whimpered in fear and tried to move away from her.

Normally that would have been fine by her. Unfortunately, there was no way that she could generate the power to just leave. All the signs pointed to them being in some land where there was high awareness to her power. As such, she just couldn't blow the door off its hinges and simply walk off into the evening.

Especially since she made a mess of herself earlier.

Fortunately, for her that is, she could still control the thoughts of the gathered children. She'd get useful info, and as long as she maintained some control over them, they would be useful agents as they grew older.

With their aid, she might even find a way back to Japan. After all, this was certainly not Japan. A similar feel, but as a Fox Demon of her power, she could tell the difference. It was strange to begin with and so… she needed allies.

Whether they wanted it or not.

"Do not fret, little ones," she said. Her smirk was purely predatory with an evil glint in her eyes as she looked upon the gathered and bound girls and continued, "I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I'll be taking care of you for a long, long time." The girls were in absolute terror of the seemingly innocent, but vile one among them, though a few saw it, the shadow she cast…

* * *

Two redheads stepped off the ferry, wearing simple brown hooded cloaks. The rain was coming down hard now. The ferry crew was trying to get everyone off so they could make for safer waters to wait out the storm that was brewing.

The two had their hoods up, which cast their faces into shadows. The only way the two could be recognized as redheaded young women was by the strands of red hair poking out from the sides of the hood and the faint outline of their faces through the shadows.

Several men looked their way, leering. They were situated in an alley and one of them tried to stop the girls. Several dogs suddenly appeared and made it clear that they had better stay away. Of course the men didn't take the warning seriously. One even drew a katana, stolen from the dead body of an unfortunate guardsman, and made a swipe at one of the dogs, nearly cutting its nose.

That was their last mistake.

When the town guards arrived, two of the men had to be dug out of the side of a building. They were still alive, but it was clear that these crooks had done something stupid.

They had pissed off ninja.

Now, if they didn't die from their injuries, there was always beheading.

* * *

Naruto reclined in a tree. He always climbed to this same spot when he just wanted to relax. It was peaceful and it let him unwind in thought.

People would be shocked if they knew that he, the ever happy go lucky ball of energy, was actually taking things slow and relaxing. Even he needed to take it easy every once in a while, otherwise he'd burn out; this particular tree was especially good for that. He yawned and stretched, then let dancing leaves lull him into a peaceful nap.

* * *

Akagi was beside herself. The nightmares had been plaguing her a lot lately. Thankfully, that idiot brother of hers always appeared to do something stupid. She could always count on them to help her forget them.

She was frightened, of course. The nightmares were so real. The dark whispers to do harm. She remembered-

"There you are, Akagi!"

The redhead blinked as her orange eyes went up to see the towel-covered form of her mother, interrupting her internal thoughts and worries.

"Mother?!" Akagi's face turned red as she saw her mother, she was seriously jealous, as her mother had an amazing body, while, right now, Akagi was a bit flat with a round face, so that many girls teased her as the 'Red Farm Tomato.'

"Come on!" the older redhead grabbed her daughter by the hand and pulled her along with a smile on her face. "You wash my back, I'll wash yours, okay?"

Like the younger redhead had a choice? Though she did feel the warmth of her mother's smile reach her heart.

* * *

Yamiko, now clad in her clothes, looked herself over in a mirror.

Her outfit consisted of a blue and white child's dress, trimmed in black, with a high collar and the hem went to her knees. She had matching detachable sleeves, unusual if not unheard of for a child's outfit. They were currently attached and had two red ribbons tied to the clamps that held them together. She also wore black long socks and white and blue children's boots, while on her head sat a blue beret with the crest of her fallen home on it. Another crest sat just above her heart on the left side of her outfit.

Then she picked up the two pistols that she was born to use. They were nearly half her height. As such, it was amazing she could hold them. Then she spun them and sheathed them into two holsters on her hips. In the event of needing to use them, she could draw them like swords and given how they sat on her hips, she could draw one or the other or even both with her opposite hands. It depended on her dexterity to draw and use both at the same time, something she felt she was not ready for, especially given their length.

Again, on both the pistols and the holsters, were stamped the symbol of her now-gone country.

When she turned to pack all her remaining belongings inside of the storage scrolls, she nearly jumped out of her skin, all because of her personal golem, Mika, surprising her. Mika looked to be a tanned little girl with blue hair in long Princess Tails with Side Waves and two long bangs framing her face, her teal eyes glowing vibrantly. She was dressed in a purple body suit with pink sides that had a collar and went down to just above her knees. She also wore a double breasted frock coat that was grey with gold buttons that lead to oversized white cuffs on her wrists, held in place by gold cuff links. She wore a red and black open vest under that. On her legs were long violet boots that ended just beneath her knees.

On her back was a large pack and on her hips was a pair of tonfas held in holsters.

"MIKA!" Yamkio declared in shock, not having expected to see her personal golem standing before her.

"Greetings, Mistress Yamiko," Mika responded in that monotone voice of hers that kept her emotions hidden. "I have already taken the liberty of-"

Yamiko wrapped her arms around Mika's neck and pulled her in close. It was a profound relief that Yamiko still had one friend left in her dead homeland. She sobbed heavily into Mika's shoulder, unable to form words, overcome with joy at seeing Mika, fully functional and active.

Mika merely wrapped her own arms around Yamiko. She gently began to rub the sobbing blonde's back with gentle motions. She had reactivated when an alert system informed her that Yamiko had awakened. It had taken some time to prepare and present herself, but her timing, as always, was impeccable.

Yamiko didn't notice, though, that Mika had a slight smile on her lips and her eyes had briefly closed as she embraced her.

After several minutes, Yamiko finally calmed down. She felt no shame as she released Mika, whose face was as stoic as always.

"My (sniff) apologies (sniff), Mika," the blonde said as she sniffed one last time, managing to finally fully recover. "But I'm so glad to see you after so long," she pulled Mika in again to just make sure it was really her before finally being satisfied, "I just didn't expect to find anyone after what I discovered when I woke up."

"I understand, Mistress Yamiko," the golem replied in her monotone voice, "I also did not expect to find much when I reactivated." She then looked around, glancing at the cracked and damaged walls, faded from years of neglect, before saying, "Or anyone for that matter."

Nodding at the signs of neglect and damage, it bothered Yamiko so greatly that she had forgotten to even try to look for Mika. "I'm sorry, Mika," the blonde said as she shook her head. "I was just so shocked, I'd completely forgotten you, I should have known better." She then smiled weakly to the golem, saying, "I was the one that built you after all."

"Indeed, that you did, but I do fear that would have been it if I had been active at the time," Mika said, indicating the room they were in and far beyond it as well. "If my Mistress wishes to inquire about what happened," Mika began, anticipating this question would appear at some time in the future.

"Yes, I do," Yamiko said with a solemn nod.

"I'm afraid I cannot provide an answer as I appear to have been shut down some time prior, all data and memory of that period is also strangely missing," Mika said, still the way she normally was. It was then that teal met green, Mika continuing, "Nevertheless I am filled with joy to begin serving you again, my mistress, and I can report that I am fully ready to return to my duties."

Giggling at Mika's ever stoic statements, Yamiko felt profound relief. She was sad that Mika had no information to provide her with, but that was not as worrying as the fact that Mika had been active when Yamiko had entered cold sleep. The fact that Mika could not recall anything was startling. Additionally, it appeared that information and data had been purposefully removed from her, which added to Yamiko's list of unanswered questions.

Then she took in Mika's appearance again and quirked a blonde eyebrow.

"Er, Mika," Yamiko began again in some surprise. "Why are you here with a packed bag on your back and armed with your tonfas?"

"Mistress Yamiko," Mika said in monotone. "I believe it is imperative that we move everything from the labs over to Konoha, with us setting up a new base of operations somewhere in the forests surrounding the village. We don't know if Kushina-sama will remember you, or anything about the situation in the village, so we'd better go to Hi no Kuni the slow way and trek to Konoha by foot." Shifting the large pack on her back, she continued, "Additionally, all available records that were left have been packed as well for our relocation."

Yamiko nodded, that made sense to her. She was so glad that Mika was quick to think about such things. Then, Yamiko eyed the pack which Mika took as her cue to continue.

"On the topic of recovered items," Mika began at once. "I have found and recovered the entire history of our country, the hidden village, and the various clans and families, among other items of note and need, such as the Uzumaki Clan Jutsu Records, Scrolls, and even Theory." She halted to allow Yamiko to digest and then once the blonde nodded, Mika continued. "This of course is to say nothing of the records that may be able to eventually assist you in understanding what brought about the end to the Land of Whirlpool."

Yamiko was surprised at Mika's preparedness and forward thought. Then again, that was just how she was designed and created. It was a major leap forward. She knew without a doubt that she could rely on Mika.

"On a related note, my Mistress," Mika turned back to Yamiko. "I have also collected and stored all remaining equipment from the armories, recovered all the remaining taxes in the repositories, and stored for transport all remaining treasures of the land and hidden village, though I'm afraid in each case, there wasn't as much as could be hoped."

Yamiko frowned at hearing that, but then some concern set in as she asked, "What of armor and weapon prototypes among other kinds of equipment?"

"The prototype equipment area had not been discovered nor raided and all items inside were in good order, thus I was able to recover all items stored there within," Mika reported and Yamiko felt relief at hearing that. "Additionally I took the liberty to recover rare and endangered species of flora, but unfortunately, I have only been able to determine probable locations for fauna in the same categories due to a variety of reasons." Mika then tilted her head, asking, "Should I list the reasons, Mistress?"

"No, Mika," Yamiko said as she shook her head. "That won't be necessary, as I trust you did all you could."

"Thank you, Mistress," Mika replied with a bow, "One last note on that subject," Yamiko was all ears, "We only need a base, some assistance, and a new preserve to move them to and we should be able to maintain and increase their numbers in the future."

"Mika," Yamiko began.

"Yes, Mistress?" Mika responded, before being suddenly gripped in a crushing hug.

"If I had made you a boy, I would kiss you right now full on the lips!" Yamiko declared happily. "I might still do that, don't know." She then held the golem at arm's length, asking, "Any other good news you have for me?"

"I'm afraid that is all, Mistress." Honestly, Mika felt a little disappointed about not getting a kiss for some reason, she mentally shrugged it off though without showing it on her face. "And to answer your question on my weapons, I believe we will be on a dangerous road, it is best to be prepared," she said as she tapped the pack. "I also brought my other weapons and found and recovered your armor, though I'm afraid it will need some repair and adjustments, as will my own armor."

Huffing in annoyance that was one thing that bugged Yamiko, but then she mellowed. "We can worry about the armor when we are safe and sound," she said, and then smiled again towards the golem. "Thank you, Mika. I would be lost without you."

Mika had already begun to turn, so Yamiko didn't see the cheeks look brighter on Mika's face even as she kept that stoic tone that betrayed nothing. "I exist to only serve you, my mistress," the golem's response was pretty normal. "If the mistress is ready, let us be on our way."

Yamiko gave off a sad sigh before she said, "Indeed." She would have to learn the truth someday. She set her tone full of resolve and said, "Let us go now."

Their nation was just a silent tomb now. No point in remaining, in case robbers returned to plunder any forgotten place.

* * *

Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha as the day slowly progressed. He was glad that school let out early that day, but he also wanted to find a good place to train as a Shinobi, where he wasn't being compared to his father all the time. Sure, he liked that he was recognized as a member of his own family, but this was just taking it too far!

It had been a couple weeks since he and Akagi had pulled the prank on the Hokage Monument, but nothing really big had happened since. Though he was probably going to prank that insufferable Kiba again. The Inuzuka boy just had to go off and run his mouth, again. Kiba has been getting full of himself lately, so Naruto saw it as one of chief duties to knock the boy down a few pegs.

Of course, it had nothing to do with today's remarks about his lack of Chakra control, or the fact that he pummeled Naruto at hand to hand today and was a bit abrasive about it.

That only made it all the better.

* * *

Even as Naruto made rather 'diabolical' plans to get back at Kiba, he was unaware of the young girl following him. The girl followed with the utmost stealth, successfully hiding as she followed. Even the people that were walking down the road failed to note her as she made her plans. Yes, truly, she had her own plans in mind.

She followed her target into the ramen shop, allowing the waitress to notice her and collect her order. A short time later, the food was delivered to her target. But as she reached for her pills to sabotage the boy's food, she found them missing. She also discovered her wallet was also gone.

"Looking for these, Ino?"

XxX

Akagi watched as Yamanaka Ino froze and turned to look at her. The long-haired platinum blonde's face was just priceless to Akagi. The orange and red dressed girl, though, shook her head as she handed back the wallet.

"Mind if I make use of these instead?" Akagi asked. She went back to eating her food as she pocketed the pills without an answer, explaining, "I want to use them on Ami later."

Hearing that name, Ino's face immediately twitched in annoyance. Purple-haired and -eyed Ami was a girl in their year. She was little more than a bully that got knocked down a few pegs whenever Akagi or Ino, usually both actually, felt she was getting to be a bit too big in the head.

So, Ino had no intention of stopping Akagi.

"Guess I'll have to make the sacrifice to curb stomp that twit," Ino answered. She went to eating her food instead, stewing over the fact she couldn't get at Naruto for that embarrassing prank he pulled with a microphone and the Academy's PA system.

Her mother had grounded her for a month and she still had 21 days to go.

Still, how he got into the girl's restroom was a big question.

Suddenly both girls turned to Naruto when they heard his stomach make a strange gurgling sound.

"Oh man!" Naruto yelled. He then shot off, out of the stand and around the corner, shouting at the top of his lungs, "OUT OF THE WAY!"

The scene left the group of patrons and the two staff blinking at the sight. They had no idea what just happened. Ino turned to Akagi who only reached out and stopped the first person she could grab from outside.

"_Hey! _Akagi?!" the person shouted as they were pulled in. "What gives?" the person looked a little surprised at the eerie lack of anything. He then smirked devilishly and said, "_Oh_ I get it!" The person puffed their chest out and continued, "Now _you're_ gonna admit that you lo-**_ GURK!"_** That was when Akagi stuffed a load of the ramen from Naruto's bowl into Kiba's mouth to shut him up, gagging him in the process.

It was somewhat comical to see. Kiba was doing his best not to cry at the fact that Naruto had gone with a slightly spicy flavor tonight. Well, slightly spicy to Naruto anyways. If it was ramen, he'll eat just about anything. In this case, the house spicy special.

Once he had somehow managed to swallow without choking to death, much to the displeasure of both Ino and Akagi, Kiba coughed a bit, then turned on the redheaded girl.

_"What was that for?!"_ he demanded in a rage._ "Did you forget that I'm a-_"

Then Kiba's stomach suddenly gurgled and then he was off at a high speed run, not as gracious as Naruto had been, especially since he was holding the seat of his pants.

_"Who put laxatives in my meals?!_" Teuchi shouted, indignant and irate at the mere thought of the sabotage.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a separate part of the village, one Hyuuga Hinata sneezed into the sleeve of her coat. She really hoped that she wasn't catching a cold. Then again, she half expected her little sabotage to be affecting Naruto right about now.

Naruto… it's not that she really disliked him — as a matter of fact, she was taken with his confidence. But her clan wanted her to marry him, and she knew that it was just so she could help propagate the family line. She wouldn't allow herself to be trapped in some loveless marriage for the sake of bringing her clan greater prestige in the village.

She wanted to be a strong woman when she grew up, not some weak little girl who only kowtowed and giggled stupidly. She would be… uh, oh, a rather angry Hokage stood tapping her foot, drilling a hole in her with her eyes! Lucky to be alive, that's what she'd be if she ever grew up.

_'How does she do it?'_ Hinata wondered, as the Hokage reached out and Hinata was suddenly a very frightened little girl.

* * *

On the path to Konoha, Yamiko and Mika had walked at least 150 miles from the Uzu no Kuni-Hi no Kuni border and had made it within ten miles away from Konoha, with nobody trying to rob them while they were on the road. It was rather fortunate that they avoided bandits because they were carrying such valuable equipment and all the flora and fauna of Uzushio, but it seemed that their luck was close to running out the closer they got to Konoha.

Yamiko was worried that something wrong would happen before they got to the gates, though she knew that Mika would help her out of that mess, especially if the threat was of bandits—

Suddenly, a set of low-volume growls was heard surrounding the two of them and their entourage, causing the adults to shuffle themselves around the child-looking members of the group (much to their annoyance).

"What's that?" someone asked, obviously frightened as suddenly red eyes began to glow from the trees lining one side of the road.

Mika's response was to fire a flare pistol immediately. The dazzling light briefly blinded everything. But the purpose had been served as a flare dangled from a small parachute and revealed a group of mad looking wild lions.

"Something is not right," Yamiko said as she took in the view of the lions.

Their muscles bulged unnaturally as drool fell from their fanged mouths. Their eyes were glowing an unnatural deep red light with no sign of their normal eyes. Their coats, normally a 'pleasant' yellow color, were a far darker, more unnatural color. Their size was also unusual for the breed.

"Mistress," Mika began after observing the lions herself. "These lions have been artificially induced into a rage. Unusual bulging of muscles, larger than normal size, darker coat, and mass amount of saliva indicate further tampering of their normal selves."

"Uh, Mika," Yamiko said as she pointed at the animals' eyes. "I think the obvious part was also the glowing red eyes."

"I was getting to that, Mistress," Mika continued on unperturbed by her mistress' interruption. "The eyes are being used by a controlling force to observe, which is why they haven't attacked just yet."

"Great," Yamiko stated sarcastically. She pulled her pistols out and then demanded, "Where the heck is the ANBU patrol when you need it?"

"Possibly not here yet or may not be coming at all."

"Another great," Yamiko sarcastically announced. At that moment, whoever held control released it and the lions roared and charged as Yamiko opened up with a hail of gunfire.

* * *

A pair of redheads heard a series of strange sounds. At first they were as soft as a cool evening breeze, but they began to change into deep growls, then roars. And it became clear that the sounds were very wrong.

"We better go help," the younger of the two, though it was hard to tell that, said.

"Yes," her friend agreed, but didn't move. "But first let's address our own threats," she stated as more growls, much closer were heard as more of the mad lions appeared before the two young ladies.

* * *

The guards surrounding Yamiko and Mika were the first to charge at the tampered lions, only for the lions to bat the spears out of the way with their enhanced paws and nearly tear the arms of their attackers off along the way. It was at this time that Yamiko started to target one of the lions that were about to make mincemeat out of the guards with her guns and fired at it, dealing heavy damage to the beast, and also angering it at the same time.

Not only did this get the now-heavily injured lion to turn its attention to the two of them, but the rest of the pack turned to the source of the shots as well, rushing towards Yamiko and attempting to prevent her from shooting at them again. It was at this time that Mika, armed with her tonfas, came between them and her mistress and struck out at the head of the pack with quick jabs at the eyes, crushing them and driving through to the brain, easily obliterating the lion.

The lions attempted to swat Yamiko and Mika down to the ground, though their ninja training proved to be superior, dodging the blows with Chakra-enhanced jumps, Yamiko spinning about in the air while peppering the lions with precise bullet wounds in critical areas. Mika, having put away her tonfas for the time being, pulled out two Kunai launchers that Yamiko had made in her spare time by the day before, aimed, and pulled the triggers. Near instantaneously, a multitude of Kunai flew into the bodies of the lions that were relatively uninjured and those that were injured grievously by that point.

With both of them landing on opposite sides of the lions, they surveyed their work, seeing that the lions collapsed from blood loss and were dying slowly but surely.

Suddenly, the lions got stepped on by a larger than average lion, one that was about the size of the Hokage Monument. Not only did the dying lions get crushed, the weapons used on them were crushed as well, leaving nothing but fine powder. This lion gave a nerve-wracking roar that would have made a lesser person die from hearing the whole thing, though it was rather fortunate that the lesser people were already unconscious, leaving Yamiko and Mika ready and waiting for an attack.

"Well… crap," Yamiko said as a general consensus of hers and Mika's opinion, the golem nodding her head in agreement.

* * *

As the maddened beasts attacked, the two redheads evaded. It was clear that they were crazed, so there was no time to lose in releasing them from their forced insanity. One launched an attack with Kunai that were carrying explosive tags. The blasts killed three as they were shredded by the explosions and debris from shattered trees, rock, and earth.

The other evaded, flipping over two to avoid another pair. As she landed, she brought up a bow and quickly managed to get off two arrows of glowing light. The arrows sunk deep into one of the lions. It roared in pain and agony before exploding into a red mist. The woman gave a prayer as she dodged and fired another arrow, this one driving through skull of another lion before partially exiting through the throat.

A moment later and she knew she had ended another noble creature's life, mercifully or not, it was not sitting well with her.

Her companion shared the same hard choice and its consequences. She landed on the back of another and quickly drove her kunai into the base of its head where it met the neck. She severed the vital location and the lion collapsed, rolling as she leaped off, barely dodging the claws of another, to rebound off a tree just seconds before one of the lions crashed into it.

The explosive tag she left on the tree exploded and the remaining half of the lion fell messily to the ground.

The second woman switched her bow out for a sword and with a single mighty swipe, split one lion from nose to the tip of its tail in two. She hadn't the time to mourn the creature as she spun to avoid being clawed open, but her sword finished the spin with her and cleaved another headless. The one she dodged came back, but she ducked under and stabbed upward, arresting the madden lion's momentum with raw strength; she tossed the body into the last three, tumbling them as they pursued her companion.

The first redhead didn't waste a moment and chains appeared from the ground and quickly restrained the berserking cats. They three struggled, but in a moment they were ended, a single tear escaping the woman as she held back a choke sob and a desire to cry out for them.

The fight was over.

"Whoever is responsible better pray to whatever they believe in that I don't get to them," the second woman growled angrily as she brought her bow up, an arrow of fire red light held at the ready.

Explosions and the sounds of fighting told of the other group under siege.

"Agreed," the first said with determined conviction as her friend released her arrow and the area was consumed in light and heat.

"Let's go," the second one said. The two were off as the area behind them burned bright enough to be seen.

* * *

"FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE IN THE WOODS!" a watchman shouted. About that time, bits of light from elsewhere followed by explosions and the sound of madden beasts reached his eyes and ears, having him report, "BATTLE! THERE'S A BATTLE GOING ON!"

Alarms sounded in a collection of alarmed sounds. Guards poured from barracks as the quick response teams rushed out to meet the battle. The Hokage strolled into the command center with a calm that eased others. She took command as civilians were rushed to the hidden shelters. The battle would be met with force.

Great gates closed with a mighty boom as lights pierced the night.

* * *

In the middle of the path in the wooded area where Yamiko and Mika were at, the giant lion was preparing to crush the two kunoichi in training (technically), with both the genius and the golem preparing for the worst in this case.

"This is going to hurt," Yamiko said with a sigh, "Isn't it?" She then gulped at the sight of the building sized lion when it came in full view.

"In all probability," Mika also looked up and showed no emotion, but she felt a nagging feeling. "That possibility is 10 percent at this time, though variable factors do exist."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Yamiko snapped at her golem.

"It means that we are likely to die in 90 percent of all scenarios that can be considered in all variable factors," Mika's response was dead panned dry.

"Gr-_REAT!" _Yamiko shouted, and barely dodged the swipe of the massive mad beast's claws, only to find that she was missing the center of her outfit, over her stomach and had a thin trail of blood leaking out_. "THOSE ARE SHARP!_"

The lion only roared and attacked again. Fortunately, they were small enough to evade. Unfortunately, there was a lot of flying debris.

The two dodged as best they could. It was a maelstrom of death flying all about them. If not for their small and nimble size, they might already be dead. Fortunately, whoever is controlling the giant beast seemed to be less interested in a quick kill, which improved their chances…

Not by much as one of Mika's socks is nearly shredded to pieces as she manages to avoid losing the leg it was on.

Then a particularly large branch crashes into the golem girl from behind. Mika coughed up a ruby red synthetic fluid that allows her body to function. She tumbles forward as the branch breaks in two. Her form lays stilled and unmoving, but her body, designed so much to mimic the human form she was based on, reveals she is still alive.

"Mika!" Yamiko shouted, only for the massive tail to whack her across the battle area.

The blonde girl tumbles and rolls for several dozen meters before becoming impaled on a piece of tree debris. She screams as the sharp end goes through her right shoulder and juts out, covered in her blood. Tears fall from her eyes as she breathes heavily, still screaming at the pain.

The lion then smacked her directly, but Mika intercepts and manages to lessen the blow with her great strength, but it was still not enough as both are sent flying.

Mika is seemingly destroyed as a bloody and torn up Yamiko looks on helplessly as the lion stalks overs, drooling and foaming at its mouth.

"No… no…" Yamiko pleaded as the lion stalked forward. "Not now... please not now," Yamiko looked on as the beast prepared to pounce, remembering her life up until that point, what she hoped to accomplish, and her…

Chains explode from the ground and quickly wrap around the duo and pull them to safety as the beast pounces only to get an arrow to its face that explodes on contact.

* * *

"Just in time," the one controlling the chains stated as she observed the unnaturally giant beast before as she settles the two girls down gently near her.

The other only nods as she observes the enraged berserking giant of a lion. She could sense the fel energies coming off the beast. She may not know the type of energy, but she knew evil when she encountered it. Now it was not her time to truly cut loose, but she knew she would like have to use a bit more power, if need be.

"This…" she trailed off, seeking a word that was simply not there. "This energy is very malicious," she shook herself. "It appears to have a warping effect. As far as I can tell, it was some time for the beast to be broken and bent and then made massive," she observed how it suddenly looked in their direction and she smirked. "But to fully use it, it must be controlled closely."

"This will be trouble," the first redhead remarked as she tended to the wounds of the two girls, only to find….

"What the?" she said as she held her hands over Mika. "No," she stated in quiet disbelief, not wanting to believe as she moved her hands up and down the unconscious golem girl. "You're Mika," she said as a small, gentle smile formed and tears silently began to fall, "Aren't you little one?"

The younger redhead gently moved a hand to cup Mika's cheek as she leaned forward to press her forehead against the unconscious golem's own. "I'm so glad," she said and sniffed a little, but then spotted how her pack had somehow survived, though a latch had come undone.

Gently, she pulled a scroll out and found it to be a storage scroll. She opened it up and discovered it was from her family's destroyed homeland. With a little hesitation, she removed an item from within, a Scroll of the Uzumaki Clan. "So this must be Kagekiri Yamiko then." She smiled at the blonde girl quite happily as she said, "So she did survive." She then turned with a frown to the lion that eyed them carefully.

"I shall buy you time and hold it off," her straightforward companion said. She then launched herself straight at the beast, clearing the vast distance in a single leap and smashing a fist into the side of the beast's head and sending it careening to the side and off its feet in the single move as the power was so great as to displace the air around its contact point.

Nodding as her friend and companion would hold the beast off long enough, the first redhead pulled back her hood enough to see to the two. Her dark eyes shone with care and gentleness as she took care of the two. Her gentle features on her thin face were smooth. Her long red hair held was held back by a white band. She would do what she could for Mika, but she was a little out of her depth on Golems, though she could at least set Mika to live long enough until Yamiko had fully recovered.

The other redhead smirked as she evaded the ponderous beast again. The massive size was working against it. Being smaller and more powerful allowed her to evade with nigh absurd ease.

With a slight twist and a quick back flip, she escaped another claw attack. Once she was set, she brought her bow on target and fired another arrow of light. Then she moved at once, flipping over the tail even as her shot impacted against the nose of the lion and exploded with electrical energy.

The lion roared in shock and pain as it shook its head. The attack had damaged its sense of smell and with all the drool and foam about its mouth, it was shocked something fiercely. The lion shook and wandered in a circle, confused and hurt from the attack. Then it howled as it suddenly regained control of itself, or rather, the puppeteer had.

"I do wonder where you could be?" the woman ideally wondered aloud and the head snapped to her. "Oh, yes, I can sense your power controlling this noble animal you filthy bastard you!" Her yellow eyes looked up, piercing through the glowing red eyes and into the eyes of the puppeteer, "You should know what you mess with before you do so!" She allowed her canine teeth to reflect light, just before she vanished and the lion was actually sent tumbling a good 900 meters, tearing up a length of the forest they fought in.

Once the lion had stopped and tried to regain its feet, the woman came down from above to drop kick it in the head. The massive beast slammed back to the earth in an explosion of dirt and debris. The woman came spinning out of it and the lion was hot on her heels, biting into the air she had just been.

Then she landed in a crouch, but not in a position most would consider good.

The puppeteer saw the short landing and charged. The lion was manipulated into attacking the woman as she had yet to rise from her crouch. As the lion closed the distance, lights danced beneath the woman's hands. It was clear; she hadn't been crouching, but getting ready to attack again.

Suddenly, chains exploded from the earth. The pure, raw energy of Chakra quickly wrapped itself around the lion and pulled it back. The lion fought back and a vicious struggle ensued as the lion and the woman fought for dominance.

All the while, the yellow eyed redhead continued to charge her power.

* * *

"Those are Uzumaki Chakra Chains?!" Dog looked on in disbelief, for never in his wildest dreams did he expect to see those used by anyone again save for the Godaime Hokage.

Tiger kept his senses better, saying, "Send a message back to the Lady Hokage and now!"

* * *

The lion berserker pulled hard left, only to find there was no resistance. This allowed it to seemingly begin to escape, but then a sharp yank to its left caused it to overbalance and roll over as it was held down tightly. The beast struggled to get off its back and regain its footing. It was mostly successful, but more chains wrapped and held ever tighter.

Nevertheless, the sheer might of the larger beast and its raw, uncaged, and enhanced madness caused it to begin to win ever so slightly. It pulled hard to the right and immediately yanked left followed by a powerful buck onto its hind legs. Several chains strained and nearly all had to be loosened to some degree to prevent their destruction. The mad monster was winning.

With a deft pull, the chains began to slip and fall and the lion roared mastery, but then they recoiled and bound ever so tighter, wrapping around the legs so effectively and suddenly that it fell forward into the ground.

"Now!" the first redhead shouted as she reeled the beast in after a long and tense struggle.

Her comrade didn't dither.

Her eyes shot up as her hood fell down and she brought her hands up as she charged forward, slamming her hands together to forge a massive sword of yellow energy that glowed as bright as the sun and then stab forward in a classic samurai sword attack.

The lion roared in defiance as it struggled to break free, the red eyes glowing ever brighter as the chains suddenly vanished and the yellow blade of energy dove into the neck of the frenzied beast and down into its heart, cutting upwards and through its spine…

As the woman landed, her fox ears twitched and the giant lion exploded from the embedded sword cascading out of control now that there was nothing to hold it together.

"Spirit Sword Technique," the fox woman said softly. "Earth Light Purification Explosion of Release." With a sigh she brought one hand up and then snapped it out to the side, the remaining energy turning the area into an inferno, destroying all that had been tainted. "Rest in peace noble ones and let your spirits be reborn pure and anew from this vile work of evil."

She pulled her hood back on as flames spread her way, engulfing the area before retreating, leaving no sign of her.

* * *

Despite being civilians _and_ the children of the Godaime Hokage, Naruto and Akagi both managed to slip past the gate as the ninjas made their way to the site of one of the battles, the ninjas going towards the scene with the fire while the siblings made their way to the other location.

They both knew that they'd be in trouble later, but at least a proper use of Kage Bunshin and Henge would make it look like they were still in Konoha, though they didn't know how much more time they had.

Akagi, fortunately, was the Sensor-type in the family, so she could tell when they were about to be followed, or tracked down for that matter. It was also a way for her to tell where the next battle was going to take place.

With that, Akagi took the lead in the search for the battlefield, directing her brother to follow her as well. They finally got to where they could see the fight, as one-sided as it was for the girls that were fighting such a giant monstrosity. They knew that, unless the two girls wanted to die, someone needed to pull them out of there. Before they could go rushing in to save the girls….

Chakra chains surrounded both girls, causing Akagi to widen her eyes and look to the source. It was difficult to see the face of the hooded woman, but the red hair and chakra chains gave her away as a lost relative of their mother. Those particular chains were strong enough to be a match for their mother, probably greater, but only because they were untainted chakra chains. Because the chakra their mother used in her chains was corrupted by the Kyuubi no Yoko, it couldn't hold anything with the strength it did in the past, unless it was a Bijuu like the Kyuubi.

Then there was the fact that an arrow was loosed at the lion, causing an explosive force upon hitting, which normally didn't happen unless one was using either Nature Chakra or Demonic Chakra of some sort. It also complicated things considerably when the second redhead moved into an attacking position without her bow in hand. Then it became clear that the archer was also good in melee combat, though probably not quite on par with their Aunt Tsunade, if the energy used was any indication.

Naruto, while he also observed the battle and the same findings as his sister, couldn't help but get the sneaking feeling that someone at least three kilometers out was controlling the giant lion. He didn't know where the feeling came from, but it was apparent that something was happening to him, or at least he was more attuned for whatever was going on.

He watched as the beast tried to defeat the one fighting it, but to no avail, as the redhead fighting it was both incredibly agile _and_ incredibly powerful. It was at about the time that she flipped over the beast's tail that she drew the bow again, firing an arrow of light, and then saying something to the lion… or, rather, the one controlling it. That was when the lion was knocked 900 meters away, at possibly the full power of the woman fighting the beast, and hopefully in the direction of the puppeteer.

It was to his dismay that the beast was not knocked towards its master, but rather some fair distance away to the left of the puppeteer, which meant the guy was safely hidden from the ones "ripping him a new one"… whatever that meant. He had heard that phrase from his mother at times, though he never fully understood what it meant.

That was when the drop kick happened, knocking the lion into the ground for a short bit, before the lady flipped away and made to prepare for an attack against the beast. The puppeteer manipulated the beast to attack, believing her to be crouching only… only for the Uzumaki to use her Chakra chains to restrain the beast, making sure to hold it tight.

After seeing the giant creature get pulled to its back and then trying to regain control of its freedom, Naruto and Akagi heard the signal to have the beast killed. The second redhead forged an energy katana and ran it through the lion's neck and down to the heart, swiping upwards and revealing fox ears on her head… which, honestly, was probably the least odd thing about the situation.

It was roughly around that time when an inferno came about. Naruto wondered what happened to the fox woman, but it seemed that she made it out all right, given her unique energy feel still being around. It was roughly fifteen seconds after the battle finished that Akagi tugged on his shirt, so he turned to her and asked in a whisper, "What's wrong?"

"Mom's here," Akagi whispered, pointing to where Kushina's tree hopping had brought her. "Let's hope that she doesn't find out we're here."

"A bit late for that, kiddos," came their mother's voice from behind them.

Looking at their "mother" behind them, their heads snapped back to see their mother in the clearing in front of them. Again they turned and looked behind them as their "mother" was enveloped in a puff of smoke and she dispersed.

_'Crud… Kage Bunshin!'_ was the thought of both Naruto and Akagi before their mother marched over in their direction.

* * *

A few minutes later, Naruto and Akagi were looking at the ground shame faced, due to the stern dressing down from their mother. It was something that they didn't want to have happen again, being victim to Kushina's discipline, so they decided to play good for a long while.

It was while Kushina was about to march Naruto and Akagi home that she looked to her left and saw two girls, one blonde and one blue-haired, next to an intact tree. Several ANBU were looking them over, likely survivors from the convoy that was supposed to be in this area. They were finding pieces of the guards and some of the people that had been with it. Fortunately, there were other survivors, so things were panning out, but it was as she was about to dismiss them, that she noticed a blue beret on the ground in front of her.

"Hm?" she bent over and picked it up, a little surprised to see this particular design again.

She tried to remember when she had last seen a beret. They were foreign in style, but had caught on in some of the island and smaller coastal nations because of their simple, yet useful design. She shook her head; she shouldn't really look into this one too deeply.

"Lady Hokage?" Dog stepped forward, looking concerned.

"Pay no heed Dog," she replied. As she turned the hat in her hand one last time, she asked, "Any idea who owns this?"

"I believe the blonde girl with the medics over next to the tree," the ANBU with ashen hair responded with a light wave of his hand.

"I see," she said, turning the beret over to him. "I haven't seen one in years."

"Yes ma'am," Dog said. He knew that berets were popular in some countries, but most of those had been destroyed because of their involvement with Western influence.

He personally would never understand such xenophobia.

Just as he turned to leave, he held the beret up and noticed a piece of metal attached to what he assumed was the front. _'What's this?'_ he thought as he gently smoothed the cloth out. To his surprise, he was looking at the symbol of the Land of Whirlpool.

_"Lady Hokage!"_ he shouted, running to her side.

"Hm?" the redhead turned to see Dog running toward her, beret extended. "It can't be!" she exclaimed, startled at seeing the symbol of her old homeland.

But there before her was the crest of that nation, but not just any crest. The outlining of the crest, the metal used to forge it, and the blue beret's fine quality — there was no way she could ever forget such a design!

It was a Royal Court Beret.

* * *

Yamiko groaned as her green eyes began to slowly open. She hurt all over, but the pain was not so bad. Her shoulder felt numb for a second, but then, like a switch had been thrown, fire flared through her shoulder and other areas of her body. Naturally she screamed loud as the pain was intense and burning.

"MEDIC!" a voice called out immediately as she struggled with the pain, but felt hands held her down._ "DAMMIT! MEDIC! ** MEDIC!"**_

_"I'M HERE!"_ a woman shouted as she leaped over the some fallen trees and slid on her booted feet to a kneeling stop and began to tend to the screaming girl, her green eyes alight with pain as tears ran down her eyes._ "Dammit!_ She was worked over," she stated, noting that someone had tended to the wounds. However, it was a serious injury, and the medic doubted that even the Legendary Healer could completely heal these wounds short of a fully staffed surgical room. "Someone tended to her earlier, but the wounds are just so severe!"

_"YAMIKO!" _a woman's voice cried out suddenly, in a panic.

_"LADY HOKAGE!"_ a Jounin cried out as he grabbed the woman._ "STAY BACK AND LET THE MEDIC WORK!"_

_"YAMIKO! YAMIKO!" _Kushina screamed as several more ninja grabbed and pulled their Hokage back, confused, but knowing they had to react.**_ "YAMIKO! MIKA!"_** yelled the redhead, who was pulled back immediately.

"Come children," the wizened voice of the Third Hokage could be heard as he came and took over the scene. Kushina was not a leader at the moment. He nodded quietly to a medic who then jabbed the woman with a sedative and, as Kushina fell away to sleep, Yuhi Kurenai, a young, up-and-coming Chunin, guided her children to safety.

"Miss Kurenai," Naruto said as he turned to the red eyed woman who 'hmmed' gently in response. "I had a strange feeling, like I could sense the person controlling that monster, far over that way." Naruto pointed and Kurenai blinked as she looked and gauged the distance where there was a small rise at least three kilometers away.

It was far away, sure, but she hadn't heard of it being impossible. Some Sensor-Type ninja could sense as far away as 10 kilometers, though normally with something to act as a means to assist. Still, it wasn't impossible either for someone to control from far away. For example, Sasori of the Red Sand was said to have that ability with his puppets or even people.

Quietly she nodded to Cat, who merely tapped Otter on the shoulder, who nodded as well to her hand signs.

The ANBU would probe, carefully and quietly.

While it may be nothing and certainly so, as no Chakra was detected, it would be best to be careful anyways.

After all, no one had seen Lions controlled or altered like that before.

* * *

Within a part of the forest left untouched by the taint and by the inferno, the puppeteer, sitting atop a high tree branch, looked on in amusement, thanks to his enhanced eyesight. He noted that the natives of this part of reality were, for the most part, more or less Ki blind, if the bursts of Ki he displayed were any indication. There was one person, however, in a 4k radius that managed to sense him all that time he released the bursts. He figured that the person was just a kid, but an adept sensor of Ki if he had ever felt one in his life, given that the kid barely had any Ki of his own at present.

"Hmm… so the kid was able to sense me, eh?" he said, seemingly to himself. "I wonder how this will play out with the scenario that Barnabas wants flowing."

_"No matter,"_ a disembodied woman's voice said from the man's right. _"Now that the kid has those annoying pests looking in this direction, it'll be for the better if you relocated to a different area, so that you can avoid this sort of trouble in the future. Nobody is supposed to know you're here, Lucas Calador."_

"Yeah, I suppose that's right," Lucas said, seemingly unconcerned for his status as a Ghost soldier. Getting up from his spot, he jumped down to the forest floor below, landing in a crouch. Upon standing upright, he turned his head to look behind him and said, "Y'know, it'd probably do you some good to take a vacation in an alternate reality every once in a while. The Paradigm Shielding is pretty impressive if it can keep one's powers intact in different realities."

_"I'm not interested in taking a vacation anywhere that hasn't been conquered by us in Imperium, Lucas, and you know it,"_ was her irritated reply.

Lucas sighed, saying, "See, _this_ is why you need a vacation. You get too irritated when you're in the base all the time, so it's for the better that you take a break in a non-conquered world. Besides, C'iel and Gaira aren't around in this dimension, and they probably never were or will be. I think this place is pretty safe from outside interference."

The voice that Lucas was speaking to didn't answer for a bit, before he heard the female say, _"I hope you're right about that. I don't want to lose you to anyone or anything."_ With that, the voice left, leaving Lucas all alone in this part of reality.

Lucas continued his trek to a different part of the country he was now in. Perhaps he would get lucky and get a decent challenge for himself again… who knows what the future has in store?

* * *

_The next morning_

In the Hidden Rock Village, comprised of homes and other buildings carved into some of the mountain range, the Sandaime Tsuchikage, Oonoki, was busy doing paperwork for his village when he heard a knock at the door.

Stopping his paperwork for a short bit, he looked up with a smile and said, "Its open, Naru."

When the door opened, he saw a young girl of approximately 10 to 11 with bright crimson hair and cerulean blue eyes, dressed in red shorts, a shirt with a red torso and blue sleeves, and a pair of black Ninja Sandals. On her left thigh, there was a kunai and shuriken holster, while, attached to her left hip, there was a Ninjato built to her custom specifications.

Naru gave a polite bow to Oonoki and said, "Oji-sama, I was hoping to ask you about when I'm supposed to graduate from the Iwa Ninja Academy. I'm already at the top of the class, and I don't know why I'm being held back by the rest of the student body. It just doesn't seem fair to me, having mastered the lessons the Academy taught from the beginning, to still be stuck in the same class as a bunch of beginners who don't know how to mold Chakra correctly. I don't know if my patience can handle it any longer, considering that I feel the urge to lash out at some of the civilians of the rural villages outside of Iwa, but—"

Oonoki held a hand up to stop Naru in mid-sentence, saying, "Naru, if you wish to be a Kage, you'll need to be a patient woman. Believe me; it's for the better that you learn how to help others in any aspect, before you get to order others around." With a pause, he thought of another reason for patience, saying, "Besides, you need to have patience before you can reach an important step in being a Kage."

Naru blinked her eyes in confusion and surprise, before asking, "What important step?"

"The step of being a Jounin teacher," Oonoki replied, mirth in his voice. "You'll need to know how to teach the next generation and put up with their antics as well."

Naru, despite herself, couldn't help but sigh in annoyance from how Oonoki had essentially said that she needed to teach a three man cell how to behave in the real world. It was a slap in the face and she especially hated it when this sort of thing happened to her.

Still, because it was an answer from her grandfather, she knew that she had to accept it.

Then an ANBU landed in the office and Naru wondered how they did that. The woman clutched a scroll to her body before humbly turning it over to the Tsuchikage who only made a 'tsk' sound. He was getting old and had it not been for that traitor's actions, he'd still be retired and enjoying it.

Hot Springs were nice and all, but so were tropical beaches and he was so looking forward to regular trips to the Moon Kingdom.

Nevertheless, he opened the scroll and began to read it, before his jaw dropped.

"Is this confirmed?" he didn't stop as he read every bit of the details held within.

"Yes Lord Tsuchikage," the woman responded. "Additionally, we too have had several encounters in the last few days with unnaturally large and rabid beasts including normally docile animals." Her standard uniform was the typical camouflage pattern of their local environment, even the mask had a camo pattern and she wore a camo cover over her hair.

"There was a report about that in the DMZ areas, correct?" Oonoki inquired as he got up from his seat as he finished reading and made his way out of his office, followed by his curious granddaughter, her two ANBU guards, and the ANBU woman as they made their way to the Operations Center not far away. One of the Operations Staff pointed them to one of its maps that were now marked to show known areas of attacks by such large and mad animals.

As they stood before the map, the ANBU agent took a pointer in hand and indicated the marked DMZ area before speaking, "As well as a rumor about Waterfall, sightings in Rain, reports in Grass, and a few confirmations at a number of other areas." The woman then waited as a staffer placed a new marker on the map to indicate something else. "And more are being reported."

Oonoki nodded as he watched as the area around the Leaf Village was added, plus two attacks near Mist and another directly on Cloud. He frowned as he rubbed his goatee and observed the attacks and noted that while they were still few in number, things were reaching a point where he would have to have regular updates and speak with the Jounin Council. While they could confirm a number, some were marked accordingly at the moment as rumors reported until verified or disclaimed. Though while the sheer number was hardly staggering as it was so few, but the numbers didn't lie that sleepless nights were ahead as well.

Rubbing his goatee, Oonoki remembered why they call it Fog of War.

"We're in for something that will be uncomfortably long," Oonoki stated with a grimace as he observed everything.

Naru said nothing, just observing. She saw how her grandfather was reacting and studying the situation. He was like a mountain and would only move when the time was right. He carefully studied the map, though expecting more and with little information, he acted in a way to increase security and gather that information smartly.

Yet…

In his eyes, she could see the truth. He had just resigned a number of people to their deaths. He knew it, but there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. This was not like before and that bothered him. Yet he acted with the experience time had granted him both on and off the battlefield and in and out of the office.

He was the Tsuchikage.

What she wanted to be in that moment and yet there was no flair to it.

She was awed and enamored deeply by it and how calmly he went about it.

* * *

**Xamusel Second A/N: Hmm… this went better than I thought. Honestly, I was expecting that this would flop by the time I got to half-way through the chapter, but I guess I outdid myself on this one.**

**Now… in regards to the last part, what's Imperium, and who's Lucas Calador? In reverse order, Lucas is going to be a somewhat-recurring minor villain over the course of the really long story, and Imperium is the name of the organization that he works for… though, believe me, all the major villains from Imperium are only gonna have one fight with the heroes before going down for good somehow.**

**...if the bit on Imperium didn't answer anything, good, I don't want to answer any questions that would be problematic to answer at this point in the story.**

**Oh, one other thing, "Kyuubi no Jaakuna Kitsune" is the Japanese for Nine-tailed Malevolent Fox. I'll allow three guesses as to who this character is that we pulled from alternate media.**

**Also, if you want to have a question answered, please review with your question. I'll be sure to answer said questions with a straight reply in due time (at the top part of the story).**

**Alright… here's Tomcat with his notes.**

* * *

**Tomcat First A/N: Hopefully this works out well. We've been busting our chops to get it done. So we hope you appreciate our work.**

**That aside, I'm personally hoping we can do this right. There will of course be those who will say 'impossible,' but hey, you know what? I say, 'Let's make lemonade with grapes and let them scratch their heads like monkeys trying to figure that one out.'**

**I'm gonna state this now, but don't expect perfection. We ain't gods, so don't expect it. We'll do our best, but we'll do it our way. So anyone who can't agree that this is a work in progress or simply loves being a flamer, I got a load of Anti-Fire Buckshot right here.**

**Cha-CHUK!**

**Any takers?**

**That aside, I hope you enjoyed the story.**

* * *

**Xamusel Third A/N: Alright. That ought to do it for now.**

**Anyway, if anyone wants to know, there's going to be a reason why the next chapter won't be released as quick as possible. As of 10/27/2013, work on the rest of the story began, what with the planning stages being heavily revised to allow for more flowing between the months in-story. Tomcat and I will be adding more content every so often, namely with a few chapters already prepped for publication, but some of those will be in cold storage for the time being. Besides which, I'm thinking about five chapters will be put in cold storage at a time, and a chapter will be released on the completion of the sixth chapter.**

**Okay… time to submit this. Hope it works well for you all. If not, well, we're looking for some good beta readers that don't pull their punches in regards to this.**

**_Sayonara no Tsubasa_**

**-Xamusel**

* * *

**P.S. This story got re-released because I wanted to let people know that I'm working on the updated version as we speak. Tomcat and I both know that we need to fix the story to be, well, better than this.**

**Therefore, if you guys could tell us what to fix in this chapter, that'd be appreciated (as this chapter will be rewritten for the benefit of the readers and posted in the long run in a separate story).**

**Future chapters will be different from this version's other chapters, honestly, mainly because of different content being used in the non-prototype. Just wanted to let you know in advance.**

* * *

**Oh, one last thing I should mention, but the chapters that will be published for the prototype will be posted (hopefully) every other day. This way, you'll all see that there's more to this than just this one chapter. Hope you enjoy what we have to share.**

**For instance, at about 2100 hours two days from now (going by PST), the next chapter will be published. Hopefully, by that point, you guys can tell us what changes need to be made for the next version (if any).**


	2. Chapter 2

**Xamusel Fourth A/N: Alright, here's the second pilot chapter of Fantasy Unleashed, which will have some major theme building for the story that Tomcat and I are working on making. It's gonna help set the stage that was built last chapter, which introduced a group and a minor villain that will start to become a major nuisance for the world, by adding onto the groups that will be causing trouble… even more so than Akatsuki.**

**By the way, why did I label this as the ****_fourth_**** A/N of mine? It's because it is my fourth one of this story, that's why.**

**Oh, for those of you interested, the previous chapter was edited heavily including new content.**

**Anyway, on with the story, everyone.**

* * *

**_Prologue Arc  
_****_Pilot Part 2  
_****_Home is where the heart is_**

Naruto walked down the road to his family's residence from the Ninja Academy a couple days before Valentine's Day in a good mood.

It had been three months to the day since Yamiko and Mika were brought to Konoha. Not only was Yamiko healed enough to get Mika fixed, but the two of them were able to integrate into the village pretty easily, given that his mother was able to vouch their story of being from Uzushiogakure.

Still… why was he in such a good mood?

Well….

* * *

_A couple hours prior, in the Konoha Ninja Academy, Naruto was listening to Iruka-sensei on how important traditions in the world are. Normally, that was covered in other classes, especially for students who wanted to get an early start on infiltration training, but Naruto had a hunch that there was an important reason for the lesson of the day._

_"Alright, class," Iruka said. "I have an announcement to make. The Godaime Hokage issued a decree last night that lets us celebrate traditions that were introduced to us by the non-Ninja villages." After hearing a gasp of surprise, Iruka continued, "Therefore, in two days' time, we'll celebrate a day called Valentine's Day. In the following month after, there's a reciprocation day called White Day, where the ones to receive chocolates on Valentine's Day, the boys, will have to give gifts that are three times as expensive minimum to the girls that give them chocolates. I hope that you all play by the rules with this tradition."_

_With that all said and done, a pink-haired girl with green eyes, Haruno Sakura, shot her right hand up in the air, asking, "Iruka-sensei, do you mind if we girls in the class have a strategy meeting with everyone else out?"_

_Iruka, perplexed by the question, answered, "Uh… sure, I'll direct the others out of the classroom."_

_Getting the clue, the boys got up from their seats and headed out to the hallway, not wanting to risk the wrath of the girls. Naruto looked at his sister and saw that she had a knowing smirk on her face, so he decided to leave it be, figuring that she knew what was going on. Before he turned his head away from her, Akagi gestured for him to meet her on the roof of the school after this was over, which meant that she was gonna tell him about the purpose of the meeting._

* * *

_An hour later, the impromptu meeting ended, just in time for school to come to an end. When Naruto saw the girls walk out of class, he noticed that Akagi was headed towards the stairs, so he decided to cheat his way to the roof. With a quick Shunshin, he arrived on the roof, where he noticed that there were people putting up decorations for the upcoming festivities of Valentine's Day. Not only were there heart-shaped decorations, but there were other forms of decorations, including __**tenshi**__ carrying bows and arrows that had heart-shaped arrowheads… what culture used such decorations normally?_

_Before long, Akagi showed up from the roof's doorway to the school, ignoring the decorations as she made her way over to Naruto. After walking to him, Akagi said, "Naruto, your fanclub's got an agenda to see about who will give you the most expensive chocolate, something I've been having trouble shooting down."_

_Groaning, Naruto said, "I still can't believe I have a fanclub. Why do we even __**need**__ fanclubs in the first place?"_

_Sighing, Akagi said, "Can't be helped. There's nothing that can be done about the whole thing, given that much of modern society is comprised of fans of one thing or another, like the Ninja way of life. It may be outlawed to have a fanclub eventually, but it's not possible right now, given that we as a society need to have reasons to join either the Samurai forces or the Ninja task force."_

_Naruto groaned again at that. He didn't mind that there was motivation to join either the Samurai or the Ninja, but he absolutely detested fangirlism, which was pounded into his head by their mother._

_With a resolute nod, Naruto asked, "Who's going to make what amount of homemade chocolate and to whom will they give it to?"_

_Akagi blinked in surprise, before she sheepishly scratched her face as she said, "I-it's not really gonna be an awful lot of people that will receive homemade chocolate. As far as who will make the homemade chocolate, Sakura-san's going to be making you some, and we both know that she's got a huge crush on you."_

* * *

It was shortly after learning that Sakura was going to make Naruto some homemade chocolate that their rooftop meeting ended, with Naruto going straight home, seeing as Akagi had something to do at the Hokage Mansion. Naruto wondered what sort of business would be taken care of by her there, but he chalked it up to needing to speak with their mom, probably about who would be a good fit for the upcoming festivities of Valentine's Day.

Naruto shook his head to clear his thoughts from who might end up with his sister. He wasn't a siscon, mind you, he just worried for his sister's well being in a very platonic way. That would be the reason why he had murderous thoughts towards Uchiha Sasuke… wait, bad thoughts, BAD THOUGHTS!

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Uchiha Clan district, Sasuke sneezed while practicing the Katon: Gokakkyu no Jutsu. As such, he sneezed fire and nearly burned some of his clothes off, making his father wonder what was wrong.

* * *

Akagi was starting to wonder if this was a good idea afterall.

She was heading to her mother, the Godaime Hokage, and ask if she could have some chocolate-making lessons to woo her sweetheart. Of course, she didn't know if she made chocolates for their deceased father or not, but it seemed like that was the case.

But that aside, she had to struggle with 'those' feelings.

She knew she shouldn't be feeling them. She knew she shouldn't have been thinking about them. She knew how much trouble they could get into because of them.

But she couldn't deny them for some reason.

That she-

"Hey Akagi!" and Akagi nearly launched herself skyward.

Behind the startled the redhead was another girl, this one whose eyes were full of merriment as the redhead worked to calm her beating heart. Still the new redheaded girl had a good laugh at Akagi's expense as all the orange eyes could do was glare at the smiling yellow eyes. Oh they had one heck of a rivalry going right now for sure, but that didn't mean they couldn't have fun, even if it was mostly Akagi on the end of that stick.

"Karui," Akagi flatly replied, not at all pleased to see her here, "Why are you here anyways?"

The dark skinned girl just shrugged and then thumbed in the direction of her teammates and their sensei. The three were speaking to one another about one thing or another. Of course, though, with them was Mabui and she looked to be keeping an eye on Killer Bee.

Kami-sama knows that was **_not _**the easiest thing in the world.

B could be as slippery as the Pervy Sage, if admittedly cooler.

Rolling her amber eyes, the redhead turned her fellow and spoke seriously, "You know there's been trouble lately right?"

Akagi gave a flat look.

"Aside from the 'usual' trouble that is," Karui clarified and Akagi winced, but nodded, "That's what brought the Lord Raikage here today, along with the Lords Hoshikage and Kazekage."

Akagi blinked surprised at hearing that, "Lord Hoshikage is here?" but then she realized a title was left out, "What about Lord Tsuchikage?"

Karui raised her shoulders and brought her hands up while making a face that said it all about Iwa, but she did answer about Hoshi.

"He's apparently very concerned," she then indicated the Hokage Mansion where the meeting was taking place, "As you know, the Hidden Star Village and its home nation is nearly completely surrounded by deadly poison gas crevices that bar nearly 90 percent of all access to the country."

"I see," Akagi caught on immediately, "If they can't handle it, they will for the most part, be trapped in their own country and easily wiped out."

"Yep and that's annoying as hell since Omoi will complain about it," Karui bent over with her hands on her hips as she let out a long suffering sigh about that before looking up to the other girl, "We need a plan to do something about those oversized beasts and other monsters running about."

Akagi only nodded. Since they first appeared three months ago, the threat of oversized and berserk creatures had become serious. Still, for the most part, while that was the case, it wasn't beyond handling. Most samurai were competent enough to bring them down with very light casualties and only the occasional death.

As long as they were able to respond first that is.

Even ninja who ran away for some of the most trifling of reasons were getting pardoned and put back into service. Mostly they had been recalled to help reinforce the lines when ninja were sent out to back up the samurai. As a result, after the first stint of surprise attacks, the situation had changed around. That is what gave the samurai a slight edge, though ninja had enough power to fight the creatures more or less evenly.

Sighing mentally at the world gone mad, Akagi noticed Karui was dressed as she usually was.

The dark skin, though she would use the term more of being chocolate skin and that reminded her of why she was going to go see her mother, but the girl before her with chocolate skin was wearing grey shorts and a grey tank top over a simple white shirt. She had a split skirt on that allowed her to move freely, though if one looked under the cloth, they could make out the hidden knives strapped to her thighs and the scale armor she wore there, and armored split toed boots on her feet.

Over her tank top and shirt she would normally wear an armored vest. She had currently removed both to keep cooler, given that Konoha was lower and warmer than the mountain based Kumo. She still had her headband with the metal plate bearing her home's symbol on her forehead and from how Akagi could she her hair matted, she had probably been wearing a helmet at one point.

The girl also had a crush on Naruto for calling her pretty when they first met.

Karui noticed how Akagi was eying her and the Kumo redhead shook her head mentally. It was understandable that the Uzumaki and Konoha would be at odds with the people of Kumo. Heck, only because it was needed to secure its flank that Konoha and the Lady Hokage even put up with being in the same room as A.

The blood there was pretty bad, Karui especially knew that.

But she also noticed the appearance of the village.

"Finally getting around to celebrating Saint Valentine's Day, eh?" the girl from Kumo nodded impressed, "I heard that the further you get from the overseas trade ports the rarer it got to see a foreign spectacle or festival."

"It's been celebrated before," Akagi supplied, once she had calmed down, she could stand being around a Kumo ninja as she indicated the village, "But that was sometime before."

"I know," Karui acknowledged as she eyed the places being decorated, "It's nice, given how it's a good day to show someone you care," and she left it at that as she was terribly shy when it came to trying to tell Naruto how she liked him.

She wasn't a tsundere, she just wasn't good with expressing her feelings to him. She didn't hide them or try to pretend that no one noticed, heck A was going to try to break the ice with discussions about a marriage when the time was right. It was just that she just found herself too weak in the knees to tell him and that was that.

"So," Karui began as she eyed the Konoha redhead out of the corner of her eye, "Are you going to finally-"

**_"WHO ARE YOU CALLING FAT?!" _**was suddenly heard as an explosion took place down the road,**_ "I'M JUST BIG BONED!"_**

Both girls groaned as they both palmed their faces.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Kushina sighed as finished seeing her fellow Kage out. It had been a trying day for them all. The Kazekage was not being difficult, just badly concerned. That was understandable. Given how his village and most of his country was depended on the trade routes that were now under threat of these monster animals. The same also applied to the Hoshikage and his people.

Fortunately, A, the Lord Raikage, was an able leader.

With his help, she was able to secure a more stable peace to her northern areas. The Fire Daimyo would be pleased no doubt. This would allow them to create a mobile reserve and at the same time, shift more forces into the areas currently affected and their surrounding environs.

Hopefully, that would be enough.

But for now, she had a new concern that was immediately brought to her attention.

The Akimichi boy had caused some serious property damage, again. This time, it was in response to some people from out of the village. They were a small group of mountain men from some place or another. As was their way, they were tall, broad shouldered men who looked like walking mountains.

They had derided the boy until he had showed them otherwise.

So now she had to decide what to do with them and to find a suitable punishment for Akimichi Chouji.

Ten seconds later, a thought came to mind and the paperwork was filled out five minutes later.

Now she had time for her daughter, "Send for Akagi," she spoke aloud and if one looked closely, the shadows were now different in the office.

* * *

Naruto, having arrived in class early on Valentine's Day, was sitting at his desk when he felt… something… in the air trying to spark something wrong. He wasn't sure what it was that was wrong, but he knew that it needed to be taken care of, and fast.

Getting up from his seat, he walked over to the chalkboard and wrote a note for Iruka-sensei that said, "Something came up all of a sudden. I'll be back before long. Naruto."

With that written, he walked over to the doorway that led to outside the school, playing with himself the age old game of "Hot and Cold". The way this game worked with him was simple: He was aiming for the spot that essentially screamed "hot" while using guesswork to figure out if he was supposed to get either that end of the spectrum or the "cold" end. So far, the rules of the game remained the same, but the outcome of the search was different each time. Sometimes, he'd have to find the "cold" end of the spectrum and figure out what was wrong that way, but he had a feeling that, this time, he was supposed to go find the "hot" end.

He seriously hoped that nobody he cared about was involved in this mess.

* * *

Akagi was walking to class for the day, chocolate in hand for her sweetheart, when she felt something bugging her senses. She didn't know what it was that was bugging her senses, but it was telling her not to head to school, otherwise things would get… messy.

Shaking her head, she ignored the feeling, which was probably the source of superstition anyway. As she walked towards the academy, the feeling intensified at a slow and steady rate, warning her that heading to school was gonna be a really bad idea. The feeling continued to intensify as she headed for the direct route to the Konoha Ninja Academy, which she felt was strange, though it should be impossible for her to be getting this strange feeling when everyone else in the Ninja Academy was headed this way.

Finally, she was within 50 meters of the school when the feeling was at it's strongest, and she was starting to get confused by the amount of negativity that came with the feeling. When she made it to the 45 meters away from school mark….

* * *

Atop a building in the immediate area, a few meters away from Akagi's location, a young adolescent girl dressed in a brown hooded robe that obscured her face, except for the area immediately around her mouth, prepared to use a powerful Illusionary spell, _Illusion of the Senses_, while holding some string to play the game "Cats in the Cradle". As she made a specific pattern, she mouthed the words for the spell in question, and, when she finished the pattern and the mouthing, that was when Akagi started to experience Hell on Earth.

_'Now, Kurama, it's time to show you your __**true**__ nature in this cruel and twisted world,'_ the girl thought, a cruel smirk adorning her face.

But, unknown to the assailant, a certain group of Konoha ninja was walking by and suddenly became alert to something out of place.

* * *

Akagi was about to walk one more step after the 45 meter mark when the world around her distorted, showing a purple sky and black clouds, and all different kinds of shades of gray for the other people and buildings. Looking all around her, she saw that Konoha seemed to get smaller and smaller… until she realized that it was the other way around, that **she** was getting **bigger** and **bigger**!

Before long, she noticed that her body was morphing, turning into that of a Kyuubi no Yoko like the one that attacked Konoha the day she was born! In shock, Akagi tried to speak in the human tongue, but the most she got out of it was yipping like a fox.

She realized that she had to get out of this mess, but with her body the way it was, there was no way she could run away with her hind legs. There was also the fact that she couldn't just use her hands or anything to see if this was a Genjutsu or whatever… right?

_"Good, you realize the futility of the situation, Kurama. Your very nature is that of a beast, something that is meant to be controlled, not that of a human being, one that does the controlling,"_ a man's voice spoke from inside her head, making Akagi shiver from the cold tone used.

_'Who… who's there? And who's Kurama?'_ Akagi thought, unsure of the situation at hand.

_"My real name is not important to you, as I am your master, so you are only to call me 'Master'. As for the identity of your true form, well, your name is Kurama, and _you_ are the __**Kyuubi no Yoko**__!"_ The man's voice became a feral type of cold as he spoke this to Akagi.

Akagi, in spite of hearing those words, shook her head in denial, before thinking, _'No… I'm not the Fox! I'm a human girl named Uzumaki Akagi! There's no _way_ I can be a fox demon!'_

But it had to be true, didn't it? The whispers she heard. The secret desires. The terrifying nightmares. The revelry of the misery of others.

Was she really-

It was at this point that Akagi blacked out, the illusion she had been trapped in forcibly collapsing, and someone caught her before she could fall face first into the ground.

* * *

About half a minute earlier, Naruto had managed to find the source of the trouble at the "hot" end of the spectrum, showing him a girl wearing a brown hooded robe that obscured much of her face. While she was smirking cruelly, he felt that there was something innately… wrong… with her energy, which didn't make sense to him. Still, he knew better than to just let her continue with what she was doing, so he leapt up to the level of the roof she was on and gave a hard and swift chop to the back of her head as he grabbed onto her robe as she spun to the edge and yanked her back hard.

What he did had the desired effect. Not only did the girl drop the Cat's Cradle she made, therefore stopping the illusion, but she herself blacked out.

* * *

At roughly the same time, a man in a different part of the world cried out in pain, holding the back of his head as he did so. Upon noticing nothing wrong with it, he immediately began to wonder what could have happened to give him the pain, not even realizing his "puppet" was the reason why.

* * *

A few hours later, back at the Konoha Ninja Academy, Naruto and Kiba walked into the classroom. The class was very subdued at the moment and some showed genuine concern for Naruto. The ANBU in the room barely helped matters, but at least he wasn't getting in the way.

Hyuuga Hinata had stood up and immediately wrapped her arms around him, giving a genuinely warm hug. Naruto smiled at that, given how he knew how much Hinata hated being looked at as possible breed stock for him. She still had a warm and caring heart.

"Thanks Hinata," Naruto returned it and the two parted just before Ino wrapped him in a harder one, what with being a friend of sorts to Akagi before the two parted themselves and the two boys made their way up to their spots only for a leg to bar passage.

"How is she?" and Naruto turned to his left to see the seated Uchiha Sasuke looking genuinely concerned with his leg out to bar the two boys' passage for the moment.

* * *

_Naruto walked into the Konoha Hospital, carrying the girl in his arms, when he noticed his mother waiting in front of him at the receptionist's desk. Naruto, curious about what brought his mother here from her important business at the Hokage Mansion, asked, "Mom? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at your office?"_

_Kushina, looking at Naruto, gave a gasp of surprise when she saw the girl in his arms. "Naruto! Why do you have a girl in your arms?!"_

_Naruto, aware of the nature of why his mother asked that question, answered, "She was doing something with a piece of string that made someone in her line of sight go into a state of confusion, though I didn't get a good look at who it was. I knocked her out cold to stop it from continuing, and then I brought her here, to make sure that someone could watch over her and make sure that she didn't do anything strange. I don't know how I could tell, but I just could, for some odd reason." After a bit of thought, he asked, "By the way, who was it that got put into a state of confusion, mom?"_

_Kushina didn't say anything, merely directing that the girl be taken from Naruto. The ANBU did as commanded and under the supervision of a doctor, gently laid the girl out on a gurney. That's when the ANBU noticed a mark on her neck that was quickly fading. So did the doctor._

_"Lady Hokage," the ANBU called his leader over, "There appears to be a mark on her neck, quickly fading away."_

_Kushina hurried over and took a look herself. The mark was nearly gone and so she had no idea of the design, but she could see that it had at one point covered the back of her neck. Strangely, there was a bruise there too. She had a guess as to what had happened._

_"Take her into an isolation ward and keep a close watch," Kushina grimaced about what she would have to do, "I'll call him, but both of you remember what you saw so you can tell him," and both men nodded before taking the girl away._

_"Mom," Naruto watched the girl go, but trusted his mother to know what was right, "Who did she attack?"_

_Kushina sighed as she turned to look Naruto in the eye before saying, "Akagi, Naruto. Your sister was on her way to the Ninja Academy… and got assaulted in her mind by a mysterious group, if the girl in your arms is any indication."_

_Naruto gasped in shock, almost dropping the girl in his arms. His sister was assaulted? That couldn't be true!_

_Then, Naruto thought of something, something that he was worried about. With a shaky voice, he asked, "Wait, who brought Akagi here, then?"_

_It was at that point that Kiba made himself known with a cough, before saying, "I brought her here." With Naruto's attention on him, he added, "My mom and sister were with me when we discovered a strange energy being used in the area where your sister was. It was at the time when the confusion ended that I grabbed onto your sister before she fell on her face," Kiba shook his head sadly, "According to my mother and sister, Akagi went into a high level state of shock -whatever that means-, and so they had made sure that I got her to the hospital."_

_Kiba shook his head after he finished speaking. He was looking left and right, showing that whatever happened to Akagi had done a number on him too. He was thoroughly spooked, no, fully frightened by what he had seen. For something to unnerve someone as brash and thick headed, according to his mother and sister, it had to be really bad._

_"Is she going to be okay, mother?" Naruto looked hopeful towards his mother who could only close her eyes as she remembered what she had been told._

_But then she opened her eyes and pulled her son in close, holding him against herself, "She's an Uzumaki, Naruto," Kushina gently stroked Naruto's hair, missing doing so to her late husband, "Akagi is a strong girl, she will recover in time," then holding her son at arm's length, "Especially with such a great brother as you to be there for her."_

_Naruto nodded, tears flowing down his face, before saying, "Thanks, mom. I will be there for her."_

* * *

"She's doing alright," Naruto answered Sasuke, grateful that the guy didn't have a stick up his rear end. "I'm glad that you care, Sasuke, I really am."

"Yeah," Sasuke said. "It wouldn't do for her to be heavily medicated, or for anything wrong to happen to her. Not only would that make her look bad, but it would be a blemish on you, because you're one of the most protective brothers out there." With that, Sasuke moved his leg back from in front of Naruto and Kiba, allowing the two of them to move to their seats.

By the time Naruto got to his seat, he was about to sit down, though Kiba stopped him momentarily with a hand grabbed onto his shoulder. Turning to Kiba, Naruto was about to ask what that was for, when the Inuzuka held out a valentine box.

"Your sister had this with her," Kiba explained, as Naruto grabbed hold of the box. "It had your name on it, though I don't know why that's the case, but I won't pry."

"Er… thanks, Kiba," Naruto said, genuinely thankful, though with a bit of reluctance, not sure how to feel at the moment.

"Don't thank me, Naruto," Kiba said. "Thank your sister for making sure the chocolate was given to you in the first place."

Naruto nodded, thinking on who could have given him the box of chocolates through his sister, before he opened the box to find a note in his sister's handwriting on top of the candy. Upon taking the note out of the box, he proceeded to read it. The contents of the note were surprising, to say the least.

Naruto-onii-chan,

I honestly don't know why I feel this way, but, well,  
I think I'm falling for you… hard. I know what issues  
might arise from this, but I don't care. I love you  
more than how a sister should love her big brother…  
please, tell me honestly when you can, do you love  
me the same way?

I love you with all my heart and soul,  
Akagi

_'Akagi….'_

* * *

A few days later, in the Konoha Hospital, the unknown girl was still in the isolation ward when she began to shift. The guard on watch noticed this and alerted his superior and the medical staff. Through the armored glass, a man observed her regaining conscious as her shifting increased. He noted the doctor arriving and entering the room to check her condition. The guard neatly folded his paper and placed it away. Then the girl began to open her eyes. They fluttered for a few moments before she seemed to regain consciousness and they began, slowly, to take in the realm around her.

Her brown hair nearly covered her opening brown eyes as she began to return to the realm of the living. Her head throbbed and hurt, making her wonder if she had hit her head. She almost thought someone was pulling a prank on her, until she heard the constant beeping of things she had never heard before… and it was driving her _nuts_.

_"What the… what's that noise?" _she shifted slightly as her eyes began to focus and adjust to the light of the room and its contents,_ "And where on Gaia am I?"_ The girl was utterly confused and the beeping wasn't helping her. She looked around and though she did see the white ceiling and walls, the other parts of the room were completely foreign to her. But, from how she could smell a sterile scent, it made her wonder if she was in an apothecary of some sort.

As she moved to bring her hand to her forehead to rub away some of the pain, she found she couldn't. She tried again, finding something restricting its movement. She tried her other hand and found the same. Even her feet and legs felt bound as did her body and head.

With growing panic she began to try and free herself, but she couldn't. It didn't help, that as she thrashed, she found that her bare back and bottom were rubbing against the strange material of the bed. This only added to her anxiety as she began to go into a full blown panic attack.

That is, until a pair of hands gently placed themselves on her shoulders and she looked up to see a man with tan features, slanted black eyes, and short cut black hair with a cow's lick sticking out from the left side dressed in a white long tunic with many pockets over a beige vest with creme colored trousers.

"Ah, good, you're awake," he spoke to her in a language that was utterly foreign to her, "But you need to calm down miss or you will hurt yourself," he went on, though his tone was gentle and comforting despite a rather hard look in his eyes that made his advice a command.

She froze up and looked nervously up at him. She could see another man with greying black hair behind him. The second one had on a black-grey uniform of some kind with a thick cloth armored tunic with forearm and shin guards of a foreign design. His face had several cuts and a burn mark, though he still retained a level of handsome appearance. He wore a light helmet with a metal plate on it with a symbol of a stylized leaf.

The girl calmed down, taking a few deep breathes as she looked up at the man in white.

_"W...what language are you speaking in? Do you know Latin?"_ The girl was utterly confused by the man's words, unsure of what he said, or anything and it was beginning to show, though she had calmed down to think, it was only momentary where one man was concerned.

"It seems you don't know the native language around here," the man, possibly a healer of some kind -she hoped- spoke, before he frowned, his eyes hardening. "Or, maybe, you're just playing dumb."

The girl was hopelessly confused and terribly frightened. But, before she could say anything about anything -not that the conversation could be understood-, she felt a strange tug on her mind. Then, before she could question it, she promptly lost control of her body and found herself returning to a strange blackness, aware, but nothing more. Again, before she could wonder what had happened to her, she felt, she felt… something like a separate entity give her the knowledge needed to comprehend the language that was the standard speak for this strange and terrifying place. She also found, as well, a bit of history and common knowledge left with her, giving her an idea of where she was, who was keeping her prisoner, and some of their ways so as to better communicate and understand.

Finally, she could see the world itself around her. She blinked and shifted and was surprised that she had control over her body again. It was during her quick assessment of her restored control that she heard another man speaking and now she could understand the language, "No, she wasn't playing dumb, Doctor Ekasa. She honestly didn't know our language," she looked over, as far as her restrained head would allow, to see a man in a grey uniform with black boots and belt, long platinum blonde hair in a high ponytail with long bangs framing his face and going over a headband with the symbol of the Hidden Leaf as he stepped forward, his pale blue eyes showing neutrality, but he could honestly sympathize with her, she felt, as he kept speaking.

"I helped her learn our language while deciphering her own," he went on, addressing the man in white, Dr. Ekasa. "So now she'll be able to understand us now and us her."

The girl saw Dr. Ekasa merely nod in understanding as he looked to the blonde man before speaking, "I sure hope that there's a good reason for her attacking the Lady Hokage's daughter, Yamanaka-dono," the doctor shook his head. "Otherwise… well, that would be a problem, for sure."

The girl immediately froze up after hearing the discussion. Had she attacked the daughter of a noble? She couldn't recall running into any noble or their daughter. She tried to dredge up the title Hokage and quickly found it as part of the information given to her.

She blanched, turning a deathly white at what the information provided her. The Hokage was the military and political leader of Konoha. It was a title given to the best among them, the most gifted at leadership and combat. The current leader was a woman with long red hair named Uzumaki Kushina and she was a driven individual with a fiery streak about her.

In a panic, the girl finally spoke up, hoping to build a defense for herself. After all, she hadn't attacked anyone. She couldn't have, right?

_"Wait, hold on! You have the wrong person!" _she pleaded in a panic, catching confused looks on two of the three males present, _"I would never attack a noble's daughter! Honest! Please, it wasn't me!"_

The blonde walked over to her bed side. The girl recoiled in fear and tried to get away, fearing she was about to be struck. She whimpered as he reached out, trying to withdraw from his grasp, but bound as she was, she couldn't.

Then suddenly she was toppling over the edge, only for strong and calloused hands to stop her from falling.

"Easy there girl," the blonde smiled softly, "I was in your head just a few moments ago," she gasped in shock at that knowledge, "So I know you didn't, not by choice or awareness anyways."

"Sir?" the guard looked confused at his superior.

"When I looked into her head, her memories just stopped abruptly in a strange place called Gaia," the Yamanaka shrugged his shoulders as he helped the girl back onto her bed and carefully covered her back up, patting her fatherly on the head. "As such, she wasn't aware of what was happening until she came to."

"Ah!" Dr. Ekasa made the sound as he came to understand, "I really hate those cases and this is my first one."

"Fourth time for me guarding such a case," the guard mumbled in annoyance loud enough to be heard, "I really hate that black art."

_"Wh-what?" _the girl looked confused as the whole demeanor of the two men changed and the atmosphere had started to become a bit warmer towards her.

"Our language, please," the blonde man kindly asked with a soft smile and the girl nodded and looked into herself and found the knowledge.

"Ah! Y-yes, my apologies," the girl blushed and tried to hide under the blankets in embarrassment, but the blonde man, Yamanaka, didn't let her as he laughed kindly and prevented her from doing so.

"Ah, young girls," Yamanaka chuckled as he fondly thought of his own daughter, "Of course my Ino is a bit more forward than many girls her age."

"You have a daughter?" she felt immediately jealous that she didn't have parents and the man seemed to notice this as he gave a fatherly pat on her head and a warm smile.

"Where are my manners," Yamanaka began, purposely changing the subject. "My name is Yamanaka Inoichi, Elesia, but I'm afraid that Dr. Ekasa and Osamaru are not as knowledgeable."

"You know my name?!" the girl squeaked in surprise.

"Introduce yourself," Inoichi responded instead with a bit of firmness, like a father with his daughter.

"Oh yes?!" she began flustered again, was this like having a father ran through her mind, "I'm Elesia," she bowed and wondered why she was doing so.

The two men merely chuckled, "Doctor Ekasa Kai," the doctor introduced himself and bowed back as did the guard, "I'm Chunin Osamaru," he supplied with a kind look on his scarred face.

"Now that that's all cleared up," a wizened old voice soon filled the room as an older man in a formal green and red attire that Elesia realized was called a kimono stepped in, with an aging, but kindly face weathered by years of leadership and hardship, a gleam of mirth and intelligence in his eyes with a smoking pipe in one hand, and gentle and warming smile, "Let's get her to another room. One not so isolated and feeling more than a little damp."

"The heating has been on the fritz again," Osamaru shrugged with some annoyance, "Happens about this time of year regularly."

"I'll speak with Kushina and see about more money into replacing anything if it comes to it," the man sighed before remembering and turning to the young girl, "I'm Sarutobi Hiruzen young Elesia-chan," he bowed kindly to her, "Retired Sandaime Hokage of Konoha," he came back up to a standing position, "It is a pleasure to meet you young one."

"N-no," Elesia bowed and wondered what was all the bowing about, "I-it is my pleasure and honor Lord Hokage."

The old man only chuckled lightly as pair of orderlies began to move the bed that Elesia was in to another, more welcoming room.

* * *

Naruto walked around for a bit after class again. He was still thinking of things that happened and where he stood. His mind in turmoil.

In his pocket, was the card that Akagi had written. He wondered about it. Wondered about life and the mysteries there within.

Okay, so he was simply confused.

Unlike kids, even the regular civvie kids, from other non-ninja villages, he and his peers had to grow up sooner. That was the nature of being a ninja, but also the use of Chakra. They were more hypersensitive to nature regardless of affinity. As such, they developed physically and mentally differently from other kids. Even the children who would never be ninja were 'soaked' in the 'feel' of Chakra and much more attuned to it than those from regular villages, towns, cities, whatever.

He didn't have the luxury of waiting to start to feel things that teens half again older than him would feel when they had the age and hormones to deal with it.

He looked up.

Again he was in front of the hospital.

He clenched his hands.

He entered.

* * *

Deep in the recesses of her mind, Akagi struggled and fought with the nightmares of who she truly was. Flashing deep within her was the desire of power and carnage. The hungry taste of revenge filled her thoughts. To torch, crush, burn, destroy.

She watched helplessly as she gleefully destroyed her home. Killed her family, her friends, everything that made Akagi who she was.

A taunting voice spoke of how this is what she wanted. How she would enjoy it. The power she had, sealed within the pathetic form that was Akagi.

She was Kurama no Yoko.

The fierce Nine Tailed Fox. Harbinger of destruction and malice incarnate. She only lived to destroy and hate. To be the source of pain and obliteration in the world.

_'Enjoy your power Kurama,'_ the voice taunted with a poison steeped in honey, _'Embrace who you are… WHAT you are. Become destruction incarnate again and bring these feeble fools to their knees.'_

Akagi desperately thought of her mother.

_'Yes, a jailed felon would likely become homesick for his prison when released.'_

Her brother.

_'A lie,'_ the voice stated matter of factly, _'He would betray you or become your next prison,'_ it paused_, 'Why turn to the jail? When you can run free.'_

Everything she turned to, the voice brought about darkness. Akagi could only scream. A prisoner trapped within her own mind as she was tormented. Little by little she began to become that which she had always feared…

Kurama again.

By the Sage, would someone not rescue here!

_"Kurama, my child,"_ a soft, aged voice gently came. _"It may not be my time, but always remember that I shall be with you always…"_

In that moment a light blossomed to life.

_'Hagoromo-tousan,'_ Kurama thought and Akagi gasped as Kurama chuckled lightly, her voice soft and full of mirth, _'Yes, Akagi, we are not the same.'_

Then, in that moment…

**_"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"_**

_'Naruto!'_

* * *

"What?" the man in the orange spiral mask was knocked clean off his feet by the punch Naruto delivered.

The man managed to roll over his shoulder, but Naruto still got him with a knee to the face. The intruder's head snapped back as he released a curse. The boy wasn't giving him time to take control of Kurama once more. So he would just have to remove the boy altogether.

"Foolish boy," his visible eye aligned as it narrowed, but then widened in shock when, instead of cerulean blue, pools of fiery amber looked back.

It was a startling discovery.

The birthmarks were darker and longer, much more pronounced. The eyes looked like molten steel forming into sharp blades that would not yield or bend. Break perhaps, but never bend. Clawed hands shot forth as the small boy leaped forward with uncanny grace and surprising power.

Tobi clicked his tongue and barely escaped, but still cried out as energy, barely visible to his eye, cut him nonetheless.

Naruto's charge took him to the wall, where he promptly put a hole through it. He turned back and started searching, ever careful, wary. His opponent could be anywhere and everywhere. The question was where?

"I shall return, boy," the intruder's voice boomed throughout the room and hospital that was in quite the stir from the shaking it took, "I shall return and have what is rightfully mine."

**_"GO TO HELL!"_** Naruto roared in a deep beastial way,**_ "NEVER TOUCH Akagi AGAIN, BASTARD! I'LL RIP YOU TO PIECES, BELIEVE IT!"_**

"Try if you can, boy," was the last thing that Tobi said for his 'visit', before he faded into nothingness for the time being.

* * *

A few minutes later, Naruto had calmed down exponentially. It was something that he needed to do, given the threat to his sister's safety having passed on by. Of course, he still needed some questions answered, preferably by her.

Eventually, Naruto made his way to his sister's bedside, sitting down in the chair next to her bed. He was worried sick for one of his remaining family… it was only natural for him to worry. After all, he was her brother… her onii-chan, as she wrote it.

But could they remain that way?

After all, she had fallen in love with him as he had with her. The two could no longer be siblings, could they? If they had reached that point.

Naruto bent over, his lips meeting Akagi's own in a gentle kiss.

Come what will, come what may…

They would see it through together.

Akagi responded with a gentle moan as her eyes fluttered open, tears in them. They remained liplocked for a few more seconds before parting. Akagi immediately went to speak, trying to say something. Yet she couldn't. She couldn't find the words. She couldn't form the sentences. How could she tell him the truth.

She then decided to just bolt. To leave, to run and never look back.

But Naruto gripped her in a gentle hug. Holding her against him. He ran a hand gently through her red hair. He remembered their mother's words about how she finally found herself in love with their father, his father…

"Na… ru…" Akagi began, but Naruto gently placed two fingers on her lips.

"I know," and he held her close, Akagi instinctively putting her head on his shoulder, feeling a warmth she never thought she would feel.

_'You are not me kit,'_ a voice floated gently through her head,_ 'For now, I'll rest again until it is time to talk.'_

Akagi gently let the tears of joy roll down her cheeks as she held her boyfriend.

* * *

Outside the room, Kushina just smiled. Her adopted daughter, she knew all along what had happened. She was a pureblood Uzumaki with power rivaling that of her great aunt Mito. Nevertheless, she had taken Akagi in, named her after herself and raised the girl as her own daughter.

Now she would be happy with Naruto, of that she was certain as she pushed off the wall.

_'The winds of change yet blow,' _she thought as she walked down the hallway as ANBU and Jounin made the building safe, _'For now, the breeze that will herald the change gently fan.'_

* * *

**Xamusel Fifth A/N: Well… this was shorter than I anticipated. Still, at least the chapter will be edited to a huge degree, compared to the initial posting of the previous one.**

**Anyway, what can I say? Tomcat and I had a plan for this chapter, and it went off without… much of a hitch, to be honest, because of outside circumstances. Of course, given that the content of the chapter was meant to be during February, I had to retcon the previous timeline of the story to account for the three month time skip to near Valentine's Day.**

**Still, in regards to Elesia, she'll be important for later on down the road. Believe me, that's the truth, she ****_will_**** be important. No, I don't want to rush in new characters, but it seemed like a good idea to introduce her before I forgot about her.**

**As far as Tobi? It took me a while to learn why he was there. He was trying to abduct Akagi before anyone else could… fat load of good ****_that_**** did him.**

**About the chapter as a whole… I'd say that this was a good one (to a degree… meaning, 8.5 out of 10, instead of a perfect 10). If there's anything that makes me wonder how it could have been written differently, it's the scenes from Naruto looking for Elesia, to the end of the day of Valentine's Day.**

**In any case, we've introduced four people with Kyuubi power, though two of them don't have their names revealed yet to you all. The other two are Naruto and Akagi, as you might have guessed, though I won't reveal anything that will be sensitive to the plot at a later point.**

**...would someone please keep track of the amount of plot point in regards to these four people? Two of them are blondes, the other two are redheads, and Naruto's the only Male.**

**Oh, in regards to the ultimate direction I want this to take, I plan on making this a Visual Novel-style computer role playing game. That way… you'll have to see what I plan on doing to know how well it might work. I just don't want to reveal the surprises involved in how the story of the game will play out.**

**Yes, that's right, the game story will be somewhat different from the fanfic story as it goes further down. It's primarily because the fanfic is just the prototype of the game, so I need to do things differently in the game itself, if only because, that way, the story will have been more refined.**

**Now then, that's all I can say, for the time being.**

**For now? I'll hand this off to Tomcat. He has to have a say in what's going on.**

* * *

**Tomcat Second A/N: Okay… The second chapter as you can tell is done. We're trying to align everything so there's space and room to move, but given the planned number of chapters, don't be surprised if the pacing is a bit quick.**

**That said, we will do our utmost to keep things as well spaced as possible.**

**Now we have Elesia. Poor girl doesn't know the heck is going on. You can imagine what she might be like around Ino.**

**As for Hinata and Naruto. Xamusel feels that might be a little too overused. So we're going to take a back seater on that one for the time being. So instead we're making it where Hinata has a slight dislike towards Naruto based on what everyone knows what her family life is like. Only now she's being used in clan politics in order to one up the rival Uchiha Clan because Kushina and her family are closer to them thanks to her personal friendship with Uchiha Mikoto. As such, Hinata has become resentful at being used as such, as simply being considered only good for breeding stock.**

**Ladies, please check your tempers, Xam and I live in the Western USA, not downtown Talibanstan.**

**(Stan means 'Land/Home' over there, like Pakistan and Afghanistan among others which translate as Land/Home of the Paki people or Afghan people. That's if my memory on the names are correct. Been a while since I looked at that.)**

**So Hinata has been a bit bitter towards Naruto as shown, poor Kiba too.**

**Unfortunately, Kushina is good at finding these things out. What she does is a secret at this time. Though she feels for Hinata and doesn't ride her case about it.**

**Plus Naruto needs to learn to be a bit more careful about being pranked himself!**

**Oh geez… look at that… we let the secret out…**

**Akagi is Kurama… oh no.**

**Yeah, about as exciting as watching Shikamaru snore.**

**What will happen as time rolls on?**

**Personally, not a ruddy clue in mind.**

**Now things are also building up.**

**Who is the mysterious controller who wanted to control Kurama and, by proxy, Akagi?**

**Not a clue folks. A mysterious entity with plans unknown. A threat to others with their own plans.**

**That said, Tobi felt threatened and made his own move. Now he finds out that Naruto is able to access the Nine Tails' power. How ****_did_**** he do that? Well, Tobi will be more careful in the future now. Especially since now that Kushina knows he is still alive and she has a bone to pick with him.**

**Breaking his bones that is.**

**But let's not forget what is happening between Naruto and Akagi. The two are transcending sibling ties. They intend to become more. And Kushina is perfectly fine with it.**

**They are adopted siblings after all.**

**So that should wrap that up.**

**Next chapter should be as good as this, perhaps even better.**

**So don't forget to tune in next time kid****_-dies_****!**

**This is Three Dog- Oops, wrong fanfic!**

**F-14 Tomcat Lover signing off now.**

* * *

**Xamusel Sixth A/N: Okay, so I don't really have all the chapters I said I'd have written done by now, which is something I really suck at. Then again, after the third Pilot chapter is released, which should be next week, I'll go back to the traditional way of doing things, mainly by posting the new chapter after making sure it's done and ready to go.**

**Oh yeah, one last thing. I started a Roleplay based in the setting of this story, and I'm looking for players to help me tell the story. The forum is labeled "Fantasy Unleashed Roleplay", and I encourage people to give it a good look over before deciding if they want to participate, as I don't want to force the issue.**

**Alright, this is it for me now, so….**

**_Sayonara no Tsubasa  
-Xamusel_**


	3. Chapter 3

**Xamusel Seventh A/N: Well, this is it, the third part of the Pilot of the story. We get to see the fallout of the Valentine's Day fiasco that took place last chapter. How exciting can that be?**

**...please, don't tell me I jinxed it, alright? I have a feeling that I already did.**

* * *

**_Prologue Arc  
_****_Pilot Part 3  
_****_How to Tame a Hokage_**

Kushina gave a sigh of slight annoyance as she put down the paper she was working on.

The day was March 12th, a month after she gave that announcement about celebrating outside holidays, and it was two days before the boys were supposed to give gifts to the girls who gave them chocolates of the lovers variety. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but it was made pretty clear that her children needed to be… sneaky, so to speak, to avoid certain social stigmas about their relationship. Nobody knew about the fact that they were adoptive siblings except a very select few people, and Naruto and Akagi weren't on that list yet, something she wanted to rectify for a long time.

Still, the fact was, she needed to do something in regards to Elesia. The poor girl didn't deserve whatever happened to her, and, in fact, deserved more than the crap tossed her way, starting with a kind and loving family that would be willing to adopt her. That would be something she'd be willing to do herself, but there were issues involved with that, such as how Naruto and Akagi would react to having an older sister.

There was one thing that was making her wonder how to handle the situation in regards to Elesia. Ever since the poor girl got checked out of the hospital and put in a caring orphanage, which happened at the end of the month prior, she had been using some strange power with a piece of string large enough to play "Cat's in the Cradle". As it turned out, she had this power ever since birth, and it wasn't based on Chakra. Elesia didn't know how come she was able to pull it off, but it seemed that she put others in some advanced form of Genjutsu, or whatever it really was.

While contemplating what to do for Elesia, there was a knock at the door, signifying that someone of enough rank in the village needed to speak with her directly.

"It's open," Kushina said from her desk, looking up from the paperwork that needed to be done. As soon as the door opened, she saw that it was Yamanaka Inoichi, the man that proved Elesia's innocence to the village for what had occurred. "Ah, Yamanaka-san, how might I be of service to you?" she asked the head of the Yamanaka Clan.

With a bow, Inoichi said, "I apologize in advance for the additional paperwork. It's just, well, my family and I are hoping to adopt Elesia-chan as one of our own." Producing the paperwork used for adoptions, he handed it to Kushina and showed her what was in need of signing, saying, "Haruka and I already signed most of it on our own, as we'll be her legal guardians, but we need the final three signatures to be done by you, because those are the Hokage-required signatures."

Kushina blinked at the preparedness of Inoichi and his wife for making sure that they could adopt Elesia. Sure, this was not exactly expected, but it was indeed welcoming to see that Elesia would have some hope for the future in this village.

Taking a look at the paperwork, Kushina wrote her signature on the parts that needed it, and gave it back to Inoichi, saying, "Here you go. You're now free to tell her and your family the good news."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Inoichi said as he took the paperwork back. With that, he walked out of the office, letting Kushina go back to work on the other paperwork.

Now that that was out of the way, Kushina got back to thinking, though she also did her paperwork as she went along with her thoughts. She needed a way to get the first White Day in a long time to go off without a hitch… and most of the chocolates in the village went to Naruto, all from his fanclub, to boot.

Suddenly, inspiration hit her, making her wonder why it didn't hit her sooner. She decided not to make this go with the paperwork, because it was a family thing firstly, not a requirement throughout the village.

* * *

"Mom, I'm sorry, what did you say? I don't think I heard you right." Naruto was honestly confused by what his mother was trying to get him to do.

Kushina sighed while rubbing her right temple, saying as she did so, "I said that you need to spend your allowance on gifts for girls this White Day. It's actually a requirement of White Day that the boy reciprocates the girl's efforts to show their love, by at least buying them a nice gift to show that you care."

Naruto felt that he understood, though it was kinda hard to figure out how to get all his allowance spread out for the different girls that got him chocolate. He especially didn't know what to do with Akagi's gift to him the month prior, and he doubted that he could announce that he was in love with his sister… that would open up a whole new can of worms that he'd rather avoid.

"Okay, Mom, I understand. Still, how am I supposed to get everyone in the fanclub to know that I'm dating my sister, and do so in a way that will prevent issues in the future?" Naruto asked in worry.

"Actually, you two aren't blood siblings," Kushina answered, much to Naruto's shock and confusion. "I mean, I only gave birth to you. Akagi was born to a different woman, and I adopted her because her birth mother died that night, if you're worried."

Naruto, after taking a bit to process this information, asked, "Wait a minute… you mean to say that I was worried about this for _nothing?!_ I mean, that's something you should have brought up sooner!"

Kushina didn't say anything more on that subject, instead opting to change it, saying, "It would be a good idea to get the gifts ready by tomorrow night, because you don't want to be seen as negligent by your fanclub… do you?"

Naruto blanched at the thought of being seen as negligent by anyone. Truth be told, he was against negligence a fair amount, given that he did whatever he could to have his mother play with he and Akagi when they were younger because of how negligent she was of them for a while.

"Okay, I'll get the fanclub some gifts of appropriate value," Naruto said after a bit of calming down. With that, he walked over to get his allowance and headed out to the storefront to see about getting the gifts for those that gave him chocolate, not exactly expecting anything to happen.

* * *

Yamiko was walking in her apartment next door to Kushina's residence with her family. For one reason or another, nobody had decided to let her make her new lab in the village grounds, at least while she was a little kid. If she were 14, maybe, but not when she was biologically closer to 10 or 11.

That was all fine and dandy, but how was she supposed to maintain Mika, of all things? It was a near thing that she was able to repair her that one time four months ago, but her luck was drawing thin without a lab to help maintain the technologies she brought with her, including her pistols.

Still, Kushina was willing to help her get a place set up for the future, which was more than what could be said of the two elders and Shimura Danzo. No, nothing was wrong with the two elders, but they were insistent upon traditions being obeyed that they felt were most important.

It was the old warhawk that was giving her the most trouble. He was insistent on putting her in a special training program and forcing her to ignore the achievements of science, which would be detrimental to her ability to take care of Mika, as well as aiding in arming the village up to a better standard.

Stepping next to the front door of her apartment, she decided to go shopping for a bit, mainly to see about getting some groceries for her next cooking project.

* * *

Elesia looked nervous as she entered the home of the Yamanaka family. The nervousness was indeed the truth as her stomach was all tied up in knots and her throat felt drier than she had ever felt before. Her movements were slightly jerky as well from her trying to walk. It was with considerable effort that she didn't bolt in fright right then and there. Then she was over the threshold and to her shock.

"Welcome to the Yamanaka Flower Shop!" a bright ten year old girl with long pale blonde hair in a long ponytail with the rest of her hair pulled back straight. She wore an orange short sleeve shirt under a white apron with blue open toe sandals on her feet. Her face was round with youth though looking very pretty. Her eyes were shut as she had a sincere smile on her face. She also gave off an aura of being friendly and kind.

"Hello honey," Yamanaka Haruka greeted from behind a row of purple flowers as she moved to meet Inochi who stood next to Elesia's right, a gentle hand on her back as the young girl clutched a few belongings she had recently gotten in a small bag.

"Hello dear and my princess," Inochi laughed heartily at Ino's immediate response of being called a 'princess,' "Well I should correct that maybe, eh?" he patted Elesia on the back gently and the girl blushed as she became the center of attention.

"Oh my!" Haruka couldn't move fast enough and was soon kneeling before the blushing girl, "You're so adorable!" she gently pulled Elesia into a warm and comforting hug and the poor brunette blushed even harder, "So young and someone so dastardly tried to…"

"Eh?" Ino blinked her pale teal colored eyes as she looked at the brown haired girl her mother was hugging, "Oh!" it looked like a light just flashed on, "So you're Elesia!" Ino stepped over and smiled as she bent forward, Elesia was noticeably shorter than her, "So you're my new sister!"

"Y-yes," Elesia nervously confirmed, feeling frighten and suddenly watched as Ino's face shifted into annoyance.

"That won't do," and grabbed the brunette girl by the hand and pulled her from Haruka causing Elesia to become fearful that Ino was about to do something mean to her, "You need to have some confidence!" and she began to storm off with Elesia in tow, "I'm gonna help her get settled in now!"

Inoichi gave a sigh as Haruka angrily responded to how her own blood daughter was acting, "Ino! You shouldn't pull her like that, she's very nervous and understandably so!"

"I know!" Ino called back down, "So I'm gonna get her dressed up nice and show her that she's family now!"

"What does she mean by that?" Haruka looked confused as her green eyes settled on her husband.

The poor man shrugged. What was Haruka expecting of him? Even if he was qualified for headcases, Ino was their daughter and, more importantly, a girl. Haruka would have an easier time figuring Ino out than him.

* * *

Ino lead her new sister around the house showing her where everything was. She showed her where all the rooms were and what was what all the while chatting amicably with Elesia. Both were beginning to bond, what with Ino's forward personality and kind spirit. Elesia had been taken back by her approach, but soon learned that Ino was friendly and eager to get to know her new sister.

"So where are you from originally?" Ino eventually inquired as she observed Elesia's dress.

The dress consisted of a sky blue laced shirt with a white bodice around the midsection. A light purple knee length skirt with long white socks that ran up high under the hem. These were covered at the feet by brown side button shoes.

The ensemble on her roughly 12 or 13 year old frame, even Elesia was uncertain as to her exact age, gave her an evocative look. The shirt revealed the top of a budding bust, no different than some of the other girls that age. Of course, the bodice gave a little push, so it likely made the bust look bigger than it actually was. Yet, if that was the case, she still had a bust building up for it to do that while at the same time, the bodice showed how she was already getting an excellent form with slender sides and well sculpted hips.

Seriously.

Ino thought she would have a startling amazing form that would have every guy in the village drooling like Choji at an All You Can Eat Barbecue Buffet.

"I lived in a country called Gabriel," she saw Ino's confused look and shrugged, "I was an orphan, so I didn't know much about the origin of the name even then."

"Makes sense," Ino shrugged as the two walked towards a room.

"Yes," Elesia agreed as the two stopped to talk outside a room, "I lived in Chaville, a very wealthy port and merchant town on the coast near the equator," she chuckled in memory, "The temperatures were usually very hot," she showed her tan skinned, "So you can guess where I got my tan."

Ino took a look. Elesia did have a tan that was not very common to the people of the Land of Fire. Though she was reminded that Lady Kushina had a slightly similar tan. It wasn't as deep, but they were also far north and the Lady Hokage had been living in the village for years now, so it wasn't a surprise to Ino that the redhead looked more like she was a native of the village.

"Despite that," Elesia continued as she seemed lost in thought, as she remembered the city she lived in until a few years ago, at best, "We always had a cool breeze that kept the place from being too hot, except in the summer, how I hated those months."

"Were they hard?" Ino tilted her head in curiousity.

"Only if I could not steal or some how get clothes that were suited for it," Elesia shook her head as she remembered those days, "The winters could be surprisingly cool and dip into being slightly cold, but you needed heavy clothes for the rains that fell and that made it even colder."

"Ouch."

"Yes. So in order to survive the summers, the clothes had to be cut down and you can imagine just how hard it would be to get new clothes for the next winter if I had to cut down my clothes for the summer."

"Not liking it. So where did you live in the city?"

"At first it was an orphanage in the Commons. There we were all well treated and cared for. But eventually, the landlord began to demand more money than could be paid. When the money could not be paid, we lost the orphanage and the caretakers were sent to Debtors Prison."

"Debtors Prison?"

"A prison where a person was held until they could to pay off their debt."

"How did that work?"

"Depended on the warden and what their morality was."

"If I didn't already hate the landlord, I wish he was here so Lady Kushina could turn him over to the Interrogation Branch."

"Why there?"

"Daddy said there's a man there, met him once, named Ibiki," Ino explained to the confused girl, "Ibiki is said to be able to make people talk. How? I haven't a clue. But he is as big as a bear and looks meaner than one too."

"Oh," Elesia now had a good guess just what the man did.

"So where did you live afterwards?" Ino gently prompted with her question.

"The Port District," Elesia responded after some thought as she reimagined the sights, "Truly a marvelous place, if not for the dangers there," the brown hair girl shook her head, "You learned fast to run and hide while those that could fight, did so. There was always trouble and you quickly learned how to navigate it and that was just about it."

"I hope it wasn't some old packing crate?" she knew how small those were when something was shipped.

"An old home built out of them yes," Elesia responded as she recalled the dingy little place two dozen of them called home, "The old owner was an old seahand who passed away a few years earlier, so we took over his abandon home, there were about 20 of us or so, but there was plenty of space to fit us, as long as we didn't take too much."

"Ah," Ino replied translating as 'no privacy whatsoever' and more than grateful for living in the Leaf.

"Strange…" Elesia frowned as she scratched her head furiously, "I can't recall details of the city itself. Things I should know are a blank. How is that possible?"

Seeing Elesia beginning to show signs of panic at realizing she had memories and details missing, Ino calmly spoke up, "It's alright," she gently took Elesia's hands in her own, "It's likely a side effect of what happened to you. It will eventually go away, perhaps not completely, but you can rebuild from what you will recall and memories will resurface."

"What… happened," there was real fear in Elesia's face, her eyes showing that to be true.

Using gentle stroking motions and a gentle voice, Ino explained, "Our family specializes in that branch of knowledge. It is what helps us with our techniques and jutsu, but we have to be careful as we know we can either damage another's mind or ours and even both if truly careless, yet we know the limits and what they do," she smiled warmly at her new sister, helping her to calm down as she continued. "As such, whoever kidnapped you and took control, did so quite forcibly to maintain control and your mind had to do something to keep itself from being destroyed. Though that means very little, we hope that they do return," then Ino reached over to the door knob and turned it.

"Until then, we will build new memories as a family," and she opened the door to the gently furnished room, "This is your room Elesia."

The girl gasped at the size of the room and what furnished it. It was large, so large that she knew at least 10 of her old orphanage friends could have found space to live in it. It had a large single bed in one corner near open windows that lead to a balcony with some potted plants on them. The curtains over it was a nice shade of blue and purple and were held open by white ribbons. The bed itself had blue and purple covers and clothes neatly folded on top of them along with still boxed, though opened, shoes and sandals. Across from the foot of the bed was an oaken dresser with a vanity mirror and a small table next to it with a large closet just opposite of it. A small stool to sit on, sat near the table with a full size mirror placed between the bed and dresser.

In another corner she spotted an oaken desk with a bag on with school supplies laid out next to it. A comfortable chair sat next to the desk made of strong wood itself. A book shelf was next to the desk. Again it was made of oak and was filled with some books and scrolls already in it. Next to that was a small step ladder for reaching the higher books and scrolls.

The walls themselves were lined with shelves on the yellow painted surface. A few had picture frames on them. Of that few, only a couple had pictures of already in them. The rest were empty, just like most of the shelves.

Here, Ino explained.

"This way, you can add what you want, including new memories."

Elesia turned with tears in her eyes and her voice threaten to fail on her, "You knew. You knew the whole time."

"We could guess," Inoichi answered as he and Haruka entered the room, "We always wanted another daughter," he gently held his wife close, "But we only had Ino," he smiled at Elesia, "We hope you would honor us by staying and being that second daughter. That way we can all fill these empty places with memories and give one another what we each desire."

"A big sister!" Ino giggled aloud.

"Another daughter to fret and worry over and be proud of," Haruka smiled warmly, like a mother to Elesia.

"A happy and larger family," Inoichi smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of his head nervously.

"A warm home with a loving family," Elesia began to wipe away the tears as she collapsed to her knees, sobbing happily as Ino, Haruka, and Inoichi joined her, gently pulling her into a family hug.

* * *

Naruto had just gotten done with shopping for gifts for almost every girl that had given him chocolate nearly a month prior when he saw Yamiko walk in his direction. As he wracked his memory to see if she gave him chocolate the month prior, he remembered that she had a gift waiting for her in his bag of gifts, one that he didn't know how to keep hidden from her for the time being.

As it turned out, he didn't need to worry about it, mainly because she was carrying groceries in her arms. As soon as she got near Naruto's position, Yamiko said to him, "Oh, hello there, Naruto-kun. I was wondering if you could help me get my groceries put away when I get to where I live with Mika." Upon receiving a blank look from Naruto, she elaborated, "Mika and I eat more than normal people, but mainly due to our intense use of Chakra. Not only do we need to have more food than the average person, but the amount of food I have in my arms is actually _more_ than what I usually buy."

Naruto, looking at the amount of food in her bags, saw that she was right. It was pretty hard to comprehend how two people about his age were able to eat even _half_ the amount of food he usually ate, but it seemed that Yamiko and Mika were able to out-eat _him_, of all people!

Suddenly, an idea hit him. Putting his things down, he made the hand seal for Kage Bunshin, making fifteen copies of himself, before indicating his things and saying to the clones, "Alright, guys, make sure these get back home while I help Yamiko-chan get her groceries to her place. Also, please dispel one at a time, or else I'll get a huge headache out of it."

With an affirmative reply, the clones took hold of the bags that Naruto had, before they all darted over to the original's home. With that taken care of, Naruto turned to face Yamiko and said, "Okay. I'm ready now. How about we get going?"

With a nod, Yamiko walked in front of Naruto to ensure that he knew the right way to her apartment, which would help in the long run… especially with a problem that was closer to home than they previously realized.

* * *

A pair of wild eyes looked about to be sure it was clear. Once they were sure, the owner darted to and fro. The eyes soon looked out of a new position, spotting its trackers. They were closing in and fast on the fugitive. But they would not have it easy.

The fugitive took off again once it was sure it was clear. Unfortunately, several had gotten smart. Fortunately, the net had become caught on various obstructions. The fugitive didn't look back to confirm what held the net up, literally, given that to do so was to be caught.

Flight was its only course now. Up some stairs, down some more. Around a bend through an alley. Over some boxes or other obstacles, it all soon was blurring together.

Then suddenly it let a surprised sound when it found some purchase give way and it tumbled into some soft items.

The good news, the pursuers immediately lost the fugitive and kept on running by.

The bad news… it was now in an entrapped environment.

* * *

Naruto and Yamiko had made it to her apartment when they heard a meowing sound coming from within. As soon as they'd heard it, Naruto turned to face her and asked, "Do you have a cat?"

"No, I don't," Yamiko answered truthfully, a confused look on her face.

At that, both blinked in realization, and Naruto held Yamiko's groceries while she unlocked her door. With the doorway open, both of them made their way to where the meowing was coming from. They soon found the room, and found themselves looking at a tiger cub helplessly trapped in Yamiko and Mika's laundry, much to the girl's mortification.

"DON'T LOOK!" Yamiko shouted as she shoved Naruto back, but the tiger heard her, panicked and shot out of the room, bowling both kids over and leaving a trail of laundry in its wake.

"The heck?" Naruto pulled a piece of cloth off his face, fearing the worse and released a sigh of relief when he saw it was a pair of shorts instead of something more terrifying, like bloomers or underwear.

He still carried the occasional phantom pain from when he had taken a pair of his mother's 'special' panties, which were a gift from his father, and showed them off in front of several acquaintances.

From what he understood, Uchiha Mikoto still ribbed her longtime friend over the incident.

"NARUTO-KUN!" Yamiko shouted, not caring that they were only shorts; her face was redder than Kushina's hair at that point.

Naruto wisely changed the subject as he got to his feet and started chasing the tiger cub. "On it!" he shouted, chasing it around the apartment flat. "Get back here you!"

Yamiko could only sit where she had fallen and watch as Naruto tried repeatedly to catch the tiger. She watched him bounce off walls, run on them, crash through things, at one point slam into the refrigerator's door, dive head first into a chair, slip on some trash that got knocked free, and eventually make a successful diving tackle…

...right into her.

"Naruto-kun." Yamiko felt her eye twitch as she recovered from the pain, but then noticed something in Naruto's arms.

"Got you, believe it," he said with a little laugh, and sure enough, he had the tiger cub firmly in his arms and it was a _big _one at that.

The cub had teal-colored fur, with silver stripes evenly placed, though the most distinguishable thing about it was its sparkling grey eyes. It was these eyes that showed its innocence in life that sparkled through. It was hardly a dangerous animal, just lost and scared. Yamiko's heart went out to the tiger cub and she felt that Naruto holding it that tightly was a crime against nature.

"Yamiko-chan?" Naruto looked to her confused, "I don't recognize this breed of tiger."

The blonde girl blinked her green eyes and then took in the appearance of the tiger. As she looked it over, she felt her jaw drop.

Mika, who had been resting until the ruckus started, didn't share her surprise.

"That is a purebred Uzushiogakure-based Sea Tiger," the blue haired girl-shaped golem stated as she eyed the tiger cub and collecting some base stats on observation alone. "I would judge this one to be at least several months old, nearly four feet in length, roughly two point five in height, and weighing between 50-80 pounds," she stopped, observing the fur coat, "and likely illegally born and raised in captivity."

"Illegally?" Naruto squinted his eyes like a fox's as he tried to understand what Mika meant.

"Correct, illegally," Mika responded, and once she saw the confusion on Naruto's face she strangely felt the desire to sigh, but carried on, "Uzushiogakure Sea Tigers are extremely rare and endangered resulting in only legal institutions such as public zoos, wild animal preserves, and such to have them."

"Oh, okay," Naruto said as he understood, and he realized his next question was an obvious one as he said it. "How did this fella come to be in your apartment?"

"Unknown, but investigation will likely uncover the truth," Mika replied as she looked at the tiger and noticed a few other things. "This tiger appears to have only recently fled, leaving a high," the front door was suddenly blown in, "probability that its illegal owners are still searching for it," she concluded without any sign of being perturbed.

In strode the smugglers who looked less than pleased about being made to run around. They smirked as they saw it was only a trio of kids with their lost prey. In their eyes, it would be simple as taking candy from a baby.

But they'd forgotten a few details.

The first thing they'd forgotten was that _this _was a ninja village. In this kind of village, you don't just go knocking holes in walls and blowing doors off of their hinges. These thugs were used to dealing with the simple folk of the farmlands or the streetwise city slickers. The former wished for peace and the latter knew better than to pick fights they could not hope to win.

But, these were ninjas, and they were trained for battle, to fight from an early age. Even a civilian from a ninja village was not someone you wanted to cross unless you had some advantage and even then, you had to be wary.

Just because they didn't have Chakra, didn't mean they didn't know ninja tricks or taijutsu.

The second, and most important, thing they forgot was that the ninja in question were related to the current Hokage, and their word meant more to her than anything else, especially the word of the smugglers. This was especially a problem for the idiots that thought that they could barge in the apartment to begin with.

As the lead smuggler brought out a switchblade and flipped out the blade, his cronies brought out tantos, obviously normal ones compared to the stuff used by ninjas. That was when they barged on into the apartment, the leader saying, "Okay, kiddies, it's time to return our property back to us." Pointing at Naruto with his free hand, the leader continued, "That tiger cub in your arms, boy? Yeah, it's ours. If you want to live, you'll have to give the tiger back, and—"

It was at that point that the Sea Tiger growled at the smugglers, signifying that these were the ones it was escaping from, before it leapt away from the immediate area and ran off to the window.

"Get the tiger!" The leader yelled at his eight goons, expecting things to go easily for them.

When they attempted to get past Naruto and the actual residents of the apartment, Naruto kicked one in the torso with a scissor kick while punching another with a straight left, while Yamiko and Mika each knocked down the remaining six that were upright with disabling blows. With that, the fight was over—

"Heh… you think that's enough to take out my boys? You're sadly mistaken, brats!"

—or so Naruto and the girls thought, until the eight smugglers that went down came right back up, weapons mysteriously back in hand. With the fight resumed all of a sudden, Naruto, Yamiko and Mika were hard-pressed to keep the home field advantage, as the smugglers charged at the three of them with twice the energy as before.

The smugglers teamed up on Yamiko, Mika and Naruto, beating them with the flats of their tantos. The beating lasted for roughly fifteen seconds, before Naruto overpowered his bunch and threw the whole lot of them towards the door, where the lead smuggler was. As they piled in front of their leader, Naruto finally got a feeling that the smugglers were far from normal humans, though he was having trouble pinpointing the exact nature of the smugglers with his extra sensing abilities.

While the smugglers were struggling to get back up from that one, Mika took the time to see about finding them in her database, the one of people that were from the immediate area. As she did so….

"Oi! Get your sorry asses off the ground and each other, and get back in the fight!" the lead smuggler yelled, starting to lose patience with his goons.

It was at this time that Naruto finally got a lock on the smugglers nature, making him gasp in surprise as he realized the truth. "Guys, we got _youkai_ here!" he yelled to alert Yamiko and Mika.

"Heh! You figured us out, huh? Sorry to ruin your realization, but, now that you know the truth, none of you will be leaving here _alive_!" The lead smuggler declared, before snapping his fingers of his free hand and the men stood back up before, in a quick burst of energy, transformed into thin monsters that were vaguely human in appearance with small horns sticking out of their foreheads with long forked tongues darting out of fanged mouths as skeletal wings appeared covered in thin leather skins and they reached forward with clawed three fingered hands.

"Oh you have to be kidding me," Naruto looked at the youkai with their unnaturally bulging eyes centered on them, "What part of demons being scared of Uzumaki did this guy not get?"

"Eh?" the leading 'smuggler' blinked just before Yamiko pulled her guns out and a hail of energy sent the lot back into him.

"I believe that will only make them angry," Mika intoned a fact as the leader could be heard growling darkly, "But as a means to an end, it has sufficed."

"Yep," Naruto knew what would come next…

"GET THEM!" the 'smuggler' shouted and the monsters rushed forward.

The monsters reached them and they began to thrash the three youths. Despite that, the three were giving as well as they got. Though it was clear that the power difference was a great chasm that couldn't be overcome in that moment.

Naruto was beset by four of the monsters, since he was proving to be the most durable and stubborn one. He managed to clock one right in the face and actually knock some teeth out. Then he elbowed another into one of its companions. But he was still outnumbered and the strength difference was huge.

Naruto was knocked down and then mercilessly pummelled. He was picked up by one and smashed through the wall, coughing up blood in the process, before being thrown across the room. One immediately punched him as he staggered back to his feet. Then another blindsided him with a shoulder charge and he was done and again, being punched and kicked when one brought its clawed hand up for the kill.

Mika was proving not as durable as Naruto, but enough so that one of Naruto's opponents had to peel off to fight her as well. Mika was crashed through a wall into an adjoining apartment, the family there hiding in the back room could only shake in terror as Mika screamed as she was relentlessly attacked before she was slammed into the walkway through another wall.

Nevertheless, she had managed to break the arm of one opponent and knock another briefly senseless with her tonfas long enough to smash the hand of the third before being overpowered as the monsters regenerated or recovered.

Yamiko managed to remove the eye of one of the monsters with a lucky shot and her fire slowed her opponents until they crossed their wings over them and charged. She was smashed back into the laundry room and then hurled back into the entryway. She managed another shot that took a horn from the second attacker, but then they were all over her.

"I guess we'll have to burn the building and kill everyone here," the leader said, shrugging as he did so.

Naruto, despite being about to die, glared defiantly and said, "You… you f—"

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" an older male voice roared, before an alarm clock was launched at the leader at such a high speed that, quite literally, clocked him as said device broke in two.

That unexpected action stopped the one-sided combat long enough to reveal a young man of around 17, in a blue school uniform, with black hair and gray eyes behind his glasses, storming towards where the leader fell, the switchblade still in his hand. By the time the monsters started processing the scene in front of them, the young man snatched the knife away from the leader and yelled, "You stole my switchblade!"

Upon noticing the monsters, the young man said to the aggressors, "Since when did you feel the need to beat up little kids? Put them down, and come at me…." Reaching for his glasses, he took them off, eyes closed as he did so, before opening his eyes to show that they changed from gray to a brilliant indigo, leading him to say, "...if you dare."

With a roar, the monsters dropped Naruto, Yamiko and Mika, before charging at the interloper. Expecting an easy time against the new guy, they charged and then circled him, preparing to clobber him in a few blows, if even that.

"閃鞘 (Sensa)," the newcomer intoned, before he slashed at the monster in front of him blindingly fast. When he moved his knife hand closer to his body, he jumped up and over the monster, kicking the entity in the back and revealing that it was cleaved into 18 pieces.

By that point, the other monsters were quick to realize that they weren't fighting a regular person, though they were still inclined to kill him.

As the young man saw them charge him, he smirked, saying, "You seem quite eager to die, you do realize." With that, he ran towards the monsters, slashing one in an upper diagonal from his left to his right, stabbing another in a place in its chest that caused that specific monster to die and vanish at the same time, slashing a third from the creature's right side of the neck to the left side of its abdomen, slicing a fourth from its left shoulder to its right foot, dicing a fifth into five pieces, stabbing a sixth in a different place from the chest of the second one (in this case, the tailbone area) and making that one die and vanish, and cutting the last of the mooks in a somewhat straight line down the middle.

The leader, having gotten up from being clocked very shortly after the last of his mooks died, growled before roaring in rage, transforming into a monster like what his goons were, only more beefy, taller, and with five clawed hands with full wings. When he revealed his true form, he yelled, **"Prepare to DIE, PUNY HUMAN!"**

"Eh, you wouldn't be the first to say something like that, bastard. You think you can actually succeed in killing me, though?" the young man asked the monster, before jumping in a backwards somersault towards where he started killing the goons. Before the move could be questioned, the young man intoned, "閃走 (Sensō)".

As soon as the intoning happened, he almost teleported to right within the guard of the monster, having ran that fast in less than a second. With a few swipes of his switchblade, he defeated the leader, though allowing the monster to live for a few seconds.

"Who… who are you?" were the last words of the monster, before the life faded from its eyes.

"My name is Shiki," the young man answered, putting his glasses back on. "Tohno Shiki."

With that, Shiki walked out of the remains of the apartment, narrowly missing the ANBU squad in the area as he managed to go into a crowd and literally vanish.

* * *

_Konoha Military Hospital  
__Seven hours later_

"When I find out who hurt my son and friends, they're going to wish I _wasn't _Hokage!" Kushina shouted in anger as she went back and forth, pacing in front the surgical room.

Naruto was recovering, much to her shock, very quickly. Even if he had her regenerative abilities, the one all Uzumaki have, he should have still been laid up for next several months. Instead, the staff said he might be out in a week at the earliest or the end of the month at worst. That didn't make sense even if she had been Kurama no Yoko's container, he shouldn't be recovering that fast at all.

Mika, thankfully, managed to avoid any serious harm. Still, after this, she was going to have to let Yamiko have her lab so she could properly repair the golem. Until then, Mika was still functional, just not at peak efficiency and at the top of her game.

Yamiko though…

The doors opened up and out stepped the Head of Surgery.

"Good news all around," he said at once, seeing the Hokage immediately turn to him as he pulled the gloves off his hands, "She'll be fine and back to her full capacity in about three weeks, give or take."

Kushina visibly sagged with relief as Hiruzen stepped forward, having been patiently keeping an eye on her, "Anything we should know about doctor?"

The head shook his head at Hiruzen's question, "No, nothing to worry about," the man wiped his forehead though in relief, "I'd thought it would be worse, but she's surprisingly built tougher than she looks."

"Thank you doctor," the Third Hokage bowed to him and the doctor bowed back.

"When will she be fit for visitors?" Kushina inquired, wondering as she wanted to talk to her friend and make sure she was alright as well as make arrangements for the debrief on what attacked them.

"Not for two days and not a moment before," the doctor sternly warned the redhead.

Kushina only nodded and the doctor acknowledged that before departing to care for other patients. The red headed woman then took one look as Yamiko was wheeled away to her room to rest and recover. Then with a sigh, the woman turned and started on out of the hospital. She had an investigation to worry about, a smuggling ring that had been broken up, the contents of said ring, a tiger from her birth country, reports of Youkai having been… well… she figured they would likely need to tear down the upper floors in order to be rid of the damage and stains.

And that was before the normal day's work was resumed.

_'What is happening?'_ Kushina thought to herself as she exited the building and started back for her office, _'Youkai are not like that, nothing like we've been finding, and yet...'_

As a Hokage and a Mother, she was deathly afraid of what the future might just hold.

* * *

_In an Alternate Universe  
__Avalon Solutions Headquarters  
__Roughly the same time_

Shiki walked in through the courtyard door of the Emiya estate, having just completed his mission in the alternate reality that was further removed from the base than usual, and proceeded to the dining room table for a home-cooked meal by the care provider of the estate. While he had a ton of issues to work out with the estate's owner, he had no such issues with the care provider, given that she was such a sweet girl when she wasn't on a mission… and it was a good thing he never got paired with her on missions, so he was told, because the lingering effects of the torture she endured were more than enough to make any male who didn't know her all that well, that was also within range at times, want to do something horrendous with her.

When he got to the table, however, he noted that there was a bit of paperwork for him to fill out. Taking the time to look it over, he realized something rather important, namely….

_'This is bad! Tokie is pregnant with _my_ child, and I have to take responsibility, especially if her father has any say in this!'_ Shiki thought.

When it came down to it, he knew that he had to take care of this in a timely fashion, because Tokie's father, Jinan Sougen, was his doctor (and a rather scary man when he wanted to be). He would have to promise both of them that he would take care of her, through all the tough times especially, and even lay bare the truth about what he usually goes out to do.

With that, Shiki got up, paperwork in hand, and walked over to the Misaki Town entryway to the Avalon Solutions Headquarters, before hurrying over to his doctor and making sure that Tokie got a father for her child.

* * *

_Back in Konoha  
__The next day (local time)_

As Iruka tried to teach his class, he couldn't help, but sigh. The boys were doing well, more or less, given the events of the other day. They were all a little freaked about the attack on one of the apartments and more specifically, their fellow cadets who were the target of the attack. The Yamiko and Mika Joint Fan Club was especially hard hit since they both were in the hospital, though Mika was expected to rejoin in a couple of days.

Still, they were at least paying attention, taking the attack as a cue to learn and study hard. They were doing exceptionally well in physical exercise as well. Even Choji and Shikamaru were putting in the extra effort. They all were really motivated.

The girls… were not.

Most were Naruto Fan Clubs members and they were really down in the dumps about it. It was grating as even Sakura was getting wrong answers and Akagi was so fidgety he had nearly lost his temper four times with her alone today. Ino was probably the only girl not affected and that was because she was showing her new sister the ropes of living in the village.

Yet even that was distracting to the girl.

Finally, after even Hinata got another wrong answer, he simply closed his book and turned to them all.

"Okay, listen up," he called and the boys were attentive, but the girls….

_"I SAID LISTEN UP!"_

He used his Big Head Jutsu and the girls all gave starts. One girl tumbled out of her seat. Ino landed on Sasuke's shoulders, tumbling them both into Kiba who tried to juggle them both before crashing into Aburame Shino and all four ended up in a mess. Hinata gave a terrified sound that wasn't either a scream or a shout of panic and toppled over in a dead faint. Two other girls jumped into a standing position holding one another for dear life. Sakura gave a violent start that she kicked her desk over and into the boys below her row. Then it was further domino effect from there in one way or another and he could hear Mizuki slap his hand over his face in embarrassment.

Once the whole mess was more or less done happening, Iruka could only gape at the damage down.

Then the door slid open and another instructor put his head in through the door. He took a look at Iruka and Mizuki, then at the mess of limbs, damaged desks, seats, and other messes. Then he looked back at Mizuki and Iruka and sighed heavily.

"You guys too?"

Mizuki only groaned as Iruka looked only at what should have been impossible.

And so, here they were, with the girls separated from the boys for the time being. They were all out on the running tracks, well, most were. The ones that were paying attention and being as motivated as the boys were excused from this reorganization. Plus, it seemed as time went by, more and more girls realized they had been in a funk all day. They seemingly came too with a blink of the eyes that seemed to make them realize where they were and what they had been up to or rather the lack of what they had been up to.

As girls began to get themselves reoriented and back into the real world, they were excused. Those that hadn't were left to the tender mercies of Mitarashi Anko. This left the remaining girls wondering if they had gone to hell when they seemed to finally click on.

Of course, that was probably because of Anko's decision to use shock therapy and her assistants were rather long and huge snake summons.

Her real assistant, Chunin Yuuhi Kurenai looked on in wonder as the girls quickly snapped out of their funks and were sent off to clean up and return to class.

"See Nai-tan," Anko spoke playfully as she filed her nails keeping them short and normal looking, "A little shock therapy, applied in the right matter would jump start them all."

"I don't see how this can even be considered safe," the crimson eyed woman looked over to her friend with more than a little annoyance, "Considering the size of those snakes."

Anko merely brought her hand up and glanced at her nails. Nodding, she put the file away and turned to her friend, "Relax will you?" it was an honest question, "I put special seals on the number tags before I sent them out on their little run."

Kurenai only huffed and looked to where another pair of girls suddenly appeared in smoke. The two looked very winded and downright exhausted. A single glance of their disheveled appearance told the Chunin that they were more interested in their appearance rather than making sure they would not only pass, but survive long enough to thrive in the Ninja world.

She couldn't help, but wonder about how many dropouts there might be.

Then again, it was probably for the best. Kurenai knew for a fact of what might happen to a kunoichi if captured. She had seen it several times herself and Anko was a good description of what might happen to them if they ended up being lead astray by a traitor. The life of ninja was hard, but equally so for both men and women as there were few qualms about tearing -at times literally- apart in ways best left undescribed.

While Kurenai hadn't seen war, she had seen her fair share of border skirmishes and had a scar hidden beneath her hair on the left top of her head from a sword slash from an enemy Samurai.

Anko, Kurenai knew, had more scars and some of her sunburns from when her teacher had abandoned her had never healed quite right, though her tanned skin did well to hide those burn scars, the same with how time helped them fade into that same tan.

Even Kushina had her fair share of scars, the most notable around her wrists, though barely visible. It was a constant reminder of when the current Raikage had participated in her failed kidnapping all those years ago. Though, as time marched on, they were barely noticeable. One would have to have seen them before then. As such, Kurenai had learned that the Godaime Hokage considered them a symbol of her trust in Kumo.

The scars were fading, but they would always remain there.

She would never trust the Raikage or Kumo fully in her lifetime.

"I think that's enough," Anko stated and she whistled loudly.

The snakes heard her call and broke off pursuing the girls. They instead calmly slithered up to Anko who indicated for some Genin to start opening up crates of some premium steaks. As Anko counted the girls as they came back from running, she could she her snakes held to her rules and hadn't eaten a single girl. With them all present and accounted for, she turned them over to Kurenai to sort out as she took care of her pets, making sure they were fed and water as the chasing was as hard on them as it was on the girls.

Sometimes it really sucked to be so big.

As Anko tended to her large and slithery friends, Kurenai took over the girls and began to get them fed and watered. She had to admit though as they were given food and water and the medics made sure they didn't eat or drink themselves to death, that Anko's approach had some merit. Though she would never say that to the top knotted purple haired woman.

The girls seemed refresh in a way and were talking to one another. Concerns and worries filling out the conversations that had developed once they had rested enough. Now that they were free of the snakes, they were all making their complaints known and loudly.

Until Anko summoned an even bigger snake just to shut them up on the subject.

"Geez!" Ino complained as she took a vicious bite out of her Rice Ball and chewed it with speed worthy of an Akimichi or Naruto, "Talk about an insane woman!"

Then again, there were ones like Ino and, truthfully, Anko didn't care what they said of her.

"Well," Hinata began tiredly, not shyly, "You can't really blame her," she nearly bit herself eating her own Rice Ball, "We were really out of it today for some reason. I think she was sent here to straighten us out."

Ino only snorted unladylike as she took another vicious bite and bit her fingers in the process, "OW!" she dropped her rice ball on herself and groaned at the mess it was leaving and sweat it was likely pulling off her.

An Uchiha girl was then heard speaking with some of her clan kin.

"I tell you things have been getting crazy lately!"

"No kidding," one of the other Uchiha girls muttered loudly, "What gave it away?"

"The Youkai that attacked Naruto, duh!"

"I agree," a third Uchiha girl in the group stated simply before explaining, "It is easy to pass off the attacks of the enlarged crazed beasts as a new type of Ninja Art, but Youkai do not fall under the same heading."

"Plus there was the attack on Akagi," said girl was in the group as well, being friends with several of them.

"W-Wh-what about the attack?" Akagi was clearly nervous and frighten about the subject.

The girl who brought it up continued, "It isn't a surprise that a daughter of the Kage be attacked," she lectured as she looked thoughtful, "And it shouldn't be a surprise that someone else would try to take advantage as you lay in the hospital quite vulnerable," several nods greeted that logical conclusion, "So it had to be with the Youkai that things really, _really _started to get strange and unusual."

"That makes unfortunate sense," another Uchiha chimed in and they all sighed sadly at that as they knew things were going to get worse before they got better.

Sakura also let out a sigh herself. She thought about Naruto and how he and Mika would be back soon. That left Yamiko in the hospital for some time. That also gave her an opening to get Naruto to like her and start going out with her.

She was no fool. She saw that Naruto and Akagi couldn't be biological siblings. The two had been clearly adoptive siblings, that much she had figured out, so had Shikamaru and Kiba, but in their own ways. Heck, it had been Shino who had finally told her the truth on the subject when she asked him to help her out.

Sakura also knew that the two were planning to start dating once they were both twelve years old.

The pinkette really needed this chance to try and gain Naruto's affection. But she wouldn't go for it and that had been bothering her all day now. The problem she was feeling was that it was underhanded. Naruto deserved to know how she felt with Akagi there. That way he could honestly choose between them.

She wanted Naruto to freely love her back, because he had honestly fallen in love with her.

Now she had this turmoil going for her.

As Anko observed, she noticed how the girls were talking their problems out with one another. She felt that was a good step in the right direction for them. Plus, this little exercise might have the bonus of forcing them to give up on frivolous and stupid things like diets and such.

Don't get her wrong for a moment. Some things like a diet was bad for a person in their line of work. Using Chakra sped up the body's operations and thus required an increased intake of food and drink. On the other hand, for Kunoichi, infiltration was one of their specialties. So they would need to know how to apply such things as make-up, perfume, and how to dress appropriately for the target area and/or target.

Just being in their line of work would let them keep their weight down. Plus, with constructive understanding of Chakra, they would be able to hide their actual muscle mass as well. It even had the benefit of hiding callouses on the hands and feet. Any girl would love that ability after all.

"I see they are doing better," the smell of lightly burning tobacco wafted up into her nostrils and the Snake Charmer of Leaf turned to her long time benefactor and somewhat of a surrogate father.

"Greetings Lord Hokage," she smiled genuinely to the old man who chuckled heartily, if lightly.

"Hello Anko," Hiruzen responded as he eyed the girls, making sure they were doing well, "I'm glad to see they are doing exceptionally well after that grueling run."

Anko shrugged as she went back to tending her pets, patting one on the side and speaking softly to it before returning her attention to the retired Hokage, "As it stands," she gesture back to the girls, "every year that passes, we get a stronger and stronger crop."

"Agreed," the old man nodded his head as he turned to pat the big snake they stood next to, "With the time and resources we have now, we can actually invest in proper training and outfitting for once, especially after Naruto's remark to one of the students of the Raikage's younger brother."

Anko let out an incredulous laugh at that, "I can't believe he went and said that and somehow managed to undo decades of bad blood that damn easily."

The Hokage made a mirthful noise himself as he took his pipe from his lips, "Agreed," and he did, "Of course in all fairness to them, if not for the Silver and Gold Brothers, we wouldn't have been fighting them in the first place," then he thought about it, "At least in the first place."

Anko only 'hmmed' back as the two watched the girls begin to understand a few things.

* * *

Naruto was tossing and turning in his hospital bed, the dream he was having a sign that something wrong was going on, though nobody knew what he was dreaming of… except for a man in a black hooded robe standing in the shadows of his room.

_'It is time to show you what is to come in a possible future, young one. I pray for your success, Uzumaki Naruto,'_ the man thought to himself, before fading from the room into Naruto's dreamscape.

* * *

_Naruto ran in fear, not once looking back the way he came, because of some instinctual warning that _screamed_ at him to run as fast as he could away from the _thing_ chasing him! He didn't know what it was, but he didn't need to at present, given that he didn't want to be caught by it or anything else that could happen._

_Looking all around him as he ran, he saw that Konoha was in ruins, the surrounding area burning as he ran to avoid the monstrosity headed his way. He also saw a number of places that he didn't recognize, but felt that he should, until he finally got to a fork in the road… and hit an invisible wall that suddenly barred his way._

_Falling flat on his back, Naruto finally saw what he was running from… a massive amount of tentacles attached to a dark mass, the dark mass being the main body of whatever that thing was. It was a good thing that he didn't see what the dark mass really was, because it seemed to be an abomination of some sort… possibly something mankind should never have to know about._

_With that, he froze on his back, unable to move as the monster slowly but surely advanced towards him. When it was within two meters of him…._

_A bright light appeared in front of him, blocking the eldritch abomination from continuing, as a room started to form around Naruto. When the room finished forming around him, he got up off the ground and took a look around, seeing that it was a different style of room than what he was used to back home. For one thing, all the walls were white in color, with different pictures on the wall that featured him either on his own or with someone else. One set of pictures was of he and Akagi, as a couple no less, leading up to them having kids. Another set of pictures had him with Sakura, though she had long slanted ears instead of the normal variety, leading up to the two of them living long and happy lives. A third set of pictures had him with Ino, though the tone of the pictures was sadder than the others, but leading up to a bittersweet ending overall. A fourth set of pictures featured him with Yamiko and sometimes Mika, though it took a while for Mika to finally grow up, eventually leading up to an ending that showed Naruto working on a project that would benefit humanity with three children assisting him._

_All in all, there were fifteen different sets of pictures, and each one was somewhat informative of a potential future that could be… right?_

_"Ah, I see you found the truth of your existence, Naruto. It's a shame that you didn't discover it sooner."_

_Turning to face the speaker, Naruto found a blonde-haired girl, who seemed to be a few years older than him, sitting at the table on the opposite side of where he was. If he wasn't quite as observant in this situation, he might have missed that she had blue eyes, rosy cheeks and pale, pink lips, while she wore a simple, white, lace dress and light blue sandals… and that she was drawing something on a piece of paper in front of her._

_Fortunately for Naruto, he was able to pick those details out, so he decided to walk around the table and see what it was she was drawing. When he got to her side of the table, he sat down to her immediate left and turned to face her, asking, "Excuse me, miss, but wh—"_

_"Naminé."_

_"Huh?" Naruto got out after being interrupted._

_"My name is Naminé," the girl, no, Naminé, answered without looking up from her drawing._

_"Oh, okay, Naminé-san—"_

_"Just Naminé, Naruto."_

_"Oh… alright. Er, if you don't mind my asking, what are you drawing?" Naruto finally got to ask._

_"I'm drawing an epilogue of your overall adventures. I just haven't finished generalizing it yet, based on the fact that there are different options to go by in each adventure." As soon as she finished that statement, Naminé drew some additional bits in the scenery of her work, making it include a bunch of foxes in the background, and a pair of blonde-haired men speaking to each other in the foreground. With that, she put down her drawing materials and said, "Okay, it's done."_

_By that point, the man in the black hooded robe showed up in a column of shadowy energy, saying as soon as he was fully visible, "Naminé, the preparations are complete. We'd best head back now, before they notice that we're gone."_

_"Alright, I understand." Naminé stood up from her seat, with Naruto doing the same, before they both walked to where the man was._

_For whatever reason, Naruto didn't know why, but he felt that the man was a safe guy to be around. It just was a feeling that he had… nothing more._

_When Naruto and Naminé were in front of the man, he said, "Uzumaki Naruto, what you've seen so far is something you will need to understand on your own. Nobody will help you out with this, because this is a test that only you have to go through. Do you understand what I mean so far?"_

_Naruto, because he honestly didn't understand, shook his head._

_"In short, you must find your own path, one that will enable you to find the truth of your life. There will be no clear answers at first, but all will be revealed in due time, so relax your thoughts." The man said, like he was a sage._

_"Oh," Naruto said, honestly understanding it now._

_Naminé walked in between Naruto and the man in front of them, saying, "I hope that they won't notice our disappearance any time soon, even though we still need to be back before they do notice." Turning to face Naruto, she said, "We'll meet again, before the start of the divergences, I promise." With that, she and the man both vanished in a shadowy column, before the same bright light from earlier engulfed Naruto once more… before he finally woke up._

* * *

_A month later_

Mikoto let out a covered giggled behind her Kimono sleeve as Naruto and Sasuke continued to go at it. The two were certainly boys and acted very much the part. Next to her, Kushina was doing much as she was as Sasuke and Naruto traded barbs back and forth. The two mothers knew where this was eventually going to go, so they held hidden the ladles they would use to knock the boys on the head for when it got there.

Until such time, they were enjoying the meal, the drink, and the entertainment.

Across the village, Sakura, Ino, and Elesia finished a bit of shopping. Since things had started to get a little crazy, Elesia had decided that it would be safer on the line than behind it. As such, she had been enrolled in the Ninja Academy, though a late starter, she was showing promise, especially with Ino helping her. While Elesia might never get on the line, she would be in important places to support it so it could move forward and defend their home.

Kiba was rough housing with Choji, the two boys trying to see who had greater strength and stamina. Their mothers were talking about various things while Inuzuka Hana let out another annoyed and angry sound. Apparently, she had just lost to Shikamaru, again. Akimichi Chouza was having the same luck against Nara Shikaku as his wife Yoshino stepped out with tea for everyone.

Yamiko finished her final tuning of Mika. For both, the lab was the gift of the Kami themselves. Mika had immediately gone through some fighting stances and techniques. Yamiko had never bothered to mention, that after so much time, Mika would begin to physically develop on her own. As such, Yamiko needed the lab to fine tune Mika during that time.

Mika's growth, as Yamiko read over the original report, was the result of a strange specimen of life getting loose and combining with the golem. Yamiko had noted it had taken three months for Mika to regain some semblance of herself. But what shocked her, was that Mika should have been full grown by now and even as old as Kushina in appearance.

Yamiko had always known why Mika had been offline when their home had fallen. She had been placed into a standby phase as they tried to understand why she hadn't been destroyed when the unknown lifeform had combined with her. She had just lied straight out back then. As such, she suspected that sooner or later Mika would start to develop a taste and eventually, a need for food. It hadn't been hard to detect that Mika was already starting to develop emotions.

Her gaze at Naruto when she thought she was merely directing her attention tended to be less that of a soulless golem and more that of a young girl developing a crush.

Yamiko feared what would happen if Mika could not control herself in that regard.

"So many stories to tell," a man pushed his glasses up on his nose as he sipped his tea.

His companion merely nodded.

"This should prove exciting," the glasses man then eyed in the direction where Neji was trying his best to be a divine follower of predestined fate, "Hopefully Naruto can knock some sense into him."

"Yep," his friend agreed before taking out an old fashioned pocket watch and checking the time, "He's late."

"You know he's never late," glasses responded as he put down his empty tea cup, "He arrives precisely when he means to."

The companion closed the watch and nodded, "Like now."

"Indeed my friends, shall we be on the way?" the man was dressed like a foreign noble in a blue and white double breasted tunic with white trousers and knee high black riding boots. His greyed hair was slicked back and his handsome features were an unusual white. His red eyes shone with age and wisdom not many would ever see.

"Glad you are here my friend," glasses let his eye correction drop a little, revealing glowing, golden eyes beneath.

"Where next?" the companion lifted his head, revealing glowing green eyes that looked more like lights in the dark, than actual eyes.

"Why not home for a bit?" the nobleman questioned and his two friends looked to one another and nodded, "Splendid! There's this boy and girl I would like you both to meet, even managed to recreate my Jeweled Sword if you can believe that." He laughed heartily at the memory, "Interesting duo, I'm trying to see if children born from them would be just as interesting."

The other two sighed, but agreed that if it got his attention, it was worth looking into for themselves.

With the passing of a wind gust, the three were gone and money on the table.

* * *

**Xamusel Eighth A/N: Alright, this is where the chapter will end for now… unfortunately, not an awful lot of sustenance to the content of the story. On the other hand, there's a fair bit of plot advancement, as well as a plot connection device here.**

**For those of you wondering about Avalon Solutions, it's actually a setting I'm starting that has basis in the Nasuverse, one that is based on a different route than the normal three of Fate/stay Night (plus the unused Sacchin route of Tsukihime). If you're wondering, it's a heavily modified Heaven's Feel, which will be quite different from the Heaven's Feel that gets mentioned in-story (if the reference to the Jeweled Sword wasn't enough of a clue already…).**

**Yes, Tohno Shiki is probably one of the most hax members of Nasuverse, unless you count Ryougi Shiki… she does a damn good job of playing God (no joke, she can kill concepts better than Tohno, even ****_Servants_**** get killed by her instead of the other one). Perhaps she can kill the Shinju for us?**

**...I'm joking. I highly doubt that the Shinju that's displayed in canon will ever show up.**

**Anyway, yes, there's a reason why Naminé is in this story. No, it has nothing to do with Kairi and Sora, although that's the canonical reason in Kingdom Hearts. It has to do with a different sort of problem in this story… and I won't spoil it for anyone just yet.**

**Anyway, here's Tomcat, people.**

* * *

**Tomcat Third A/N: Life, ever winding, ever flowing. No straight path to even the final destination. It meanders on, setting its own pace and course.**

**Much like this story.**

**Xamusel's got the plans, I got the words. So here we go through with this.**

**We're seeing much change and even character development. Playing a bit on fanon and canon to unite the two and make a story. As you can guess, things will be different and are different, but some things are written in stone unfortunately. So there will be tragedy and heartache.**

**But whenever the darkness reaches its peak, so some light must be seen.**

**The biggest change is the dimensional barriers. They seem to be fading and breaking in some cases. Things ****_and _****people are spilling over between the two. What was one world's problem is now several worlds' problems.**

**Plus, what will a certain Dimensional Hopping Vampire with a love of pranks do about it? Since it would be a problem for him directly after all. Additionally, who are his friends? These two newcomers who are traveling with him. Are they merely travel buddies or are they more?**

**Things are changing and the winds are blowing.**

**Will the river of life meander as it has always done?**

**Or will things suddenly change?**

**As the story develops, so too does the character of each person involved.**

**What will be written next?**

* * *

**Xamusel Ninth A/N: As mentioned, I do have the plans, and one of them that was hinted at twice is that this will be read similarly to a Visual Novel… once in-story and the other by what Tomcat said at the beginning of his A/N. The reason why is because I intend to make this into a Visual Novel at some point, with all the bells and whistles involved, honestly.**

**Anyway, I guess now will be the time when the chapter gets wrapped up, so…**

**_Sayonara no Tsubasa  
-Xamusel_**


	4. Chapter 4

**Xamusel Tenth A/N: Well, this is the second to final Pilot Chapter to be written, honestly. For those of you expecting some sort of hard and fast revelation or something like that, well… you got that partly right, mainly because there actually ****_will_**** be a revelation in here. It's just not the sort you'd be expecting in this sort of story.**

**Now… this chapter will also allow a breather to happen, though it'll be interspersed with the revelation all throughout the chapter. Just making that clear now, everybody.**

**With that… on with the show!**

* * *

**_Prologue Arc  
_****_Pilot Part 4  
_****_What Life's all about_**

It was the night of April 14th and there was a building tension. The feeling that comes before a storm, a real nasty one no less, hits. No one knew where the latest cause was coming from, but it was when things started looking like they'd go to hell… again. Of course, not everyone in the village could tell that was the case, but it was there and they could at least feel it and prepare.

Or so they thought.

Naruto, having nothing better to do, was on the roof of his house, watching something on a strange device that he had found in his closet, namely a music video that had been put up on the internet (whatever that was) by a group called Egoist. Incidentally enough, the lead singer looked an awful lot like Sakura, except that Sakura didn't have breasts yet… did she? Well, in any event, the singer in question wore what amounted to a sexy outfit with feathers for the clothing material.

_Saita no no hana yo_

_Aa douka oshiete okure_

_Hito wa naze kisutsukeatta arasou no deshou?_

As it turned out, the same person that was singing, now in a silk and latex-based revealing outfit, was running through a sewage treatment plant in the water that was supposed to be cleaned up by that time, following a small robot that was traveling through the water and the rest of the corridor. Her outfit was a reddish yellow dancer's outfit with a bare stomach and chest, leaving very little to the imagination. On the hips were starburst patterns of sunflowers while the unconnected sleeves had a petal motif that drew the eyes. To finish off the dress was a pair of black stockings that left only the barest bit of the inner thigh visible to the eye and metal studded open toed sandals.

_Rin to saku hana yo_

_Soko kara nani ga mieru?_

_Hito wa naze yurushiau koto dekinai no deshou?_

_"__Have you secured the Key?"_ a male voice asked the singer through a pair of earbuds that were good for communicating through long distances.

"Yeah," the singer answered, clutching a vial in her hands that was meant to stay safe to her chest.

_"__Well done. I'll guide you out,"_ the man's voice said. _"We'll rendezvous in thirty seconds, Yagahara Sakuinori."_

The singer, now identified as Yagahara Sakuinori, couldn't help but feel like something important was about to happen in her life… like being stuck in an alternate reality under a different name.

_Ame ga sugite natsu wa ao wo utsushita_

_Hitotsu ni natte_

A small group of middle sized robots were being lowered by elevator to where they could easily catch up with Sakuinori, the pilots of these robots in specialized cockpits outside of the robots and in an observation room, with doctors and scientific personnel checking their vitals.

In the meantime, Naruto was watching the music video and couldn't help but notice the elongated ears on Sakuinori's head, making him wonder if it was a bloodline of some sort. One way to find out would be if the Yagahara clan actually existed in the Shinobi world, but if it didn't, well… that would be a problem.

_Chiisaku yureta watashi no mae de_

_Nani mo iwazu ni_

In the music video, crystal started to form in the surrounding area of Sakuinori, with a bright light engulfing her and changing her outfit to the silk and latex-based outfit.

In the sewage treatment plant, the middle sized robots rushed towards Sakuinori, who had gotten onto a catwalk by that point. As they charged at her, she turned her head to look back, shock appearing on her face as she saw the robots she was running away from. As it stood, the leader of that group of robots, those being called Endlaves, opened fire on her with a Gatling gun, destroying some of the area behind her and hitting her in the upper left arm in the process, thus knocking her forward like a rag doll. After checking the vial in her hands and making sure it was alright, she got up on her feet and hurried while worrying about the blood flowing from her wound.

_Karete yuku tomo ni_

_Omae wa nani wo omou_

_Kotoba wo motanu sono ha de nanto_

_Ai wa tsutaeru_

Sakuinori eventually ran on a nearby bridge, aiming to escape the Endlaves that were pursuing her. When she made it a fair amount of distance towards the opposite side of the bridge, the small robot from earlier arrived in front of her and stopped a few meters away. When Sakuinori stopped in front of the robot, she knelt down and opened the top half of it, saying as she put the vial inside, "Let this be safe, now. Get this to Pierre!"

At that moment, an Endlave arrived and targeted Sakuinori with its linear cannon, opening fire and expecting a hit. She ducked, holding the robot close to her, which caused the shot to go sailing over her. With the resulting explosion caused by the round behind her, she looked up and saw that it was about to run her over, except that….

*CRASH*

It ran right into an invisible enemy. While the Endlave chasing Sakuinori moved a bit backwards, moving into a two-legged mode (instead of staying in the "tank" mode of before), it attempted to attack her by charging forward, only for the invisible enemy, a different model Endlave, to reveal itself.

_Natsu no hi kagette_

_Kaze ga nabiita_

_Futatsu kasanatte_

Looking up and gasping in surprise, Sakuinori saw that it was a unit that was friendly, an older model that was repurposed for the group she was a part of. Turning its attention to her, a mechanized female voice yelled out, _"I've got you covered! Now, hurry, and get the Key to Pierre!"_

Acknowledging that, Sakuinori turned to the robot and said, "Go, Funell." With that, they both rushed away from the area.

_Ikita akashi wo watashi wa utaou_

With the enemy Endlave, it launched three missiles from its left shoulder area, all aimed at Sakuinori! As the female pilot saw this, she could only yell, _"Aw, CRAP!"_ As the missiles wildly made their way towards her, two of them hit somewhere far enough behind her to let her keep running, but the third one hit just behind her, forcing her to tumble like a rag doll and off the bridge, with the robot following suit.

_Na mo naki mono no tame_

_'__Crap, not the dimensional sea! Please, let us find her before Imperium can!'_ thought the pilot of the older Endlave.

* * *

"So that's what happened," one of the men stated as he drank his tea. "Oh? Xing Tea?"

"Are you ever going to learn the proper name?" the other man inquired with a slightly amused tone.

"Probably not," Zelretch added with a laugh as the three went on to discuss the ramifications and whether or not to begin getting involved since for them… it would be inevitable before they clashed with the Imperium.

"By the way Zelretch," the first man looked over with his glowing gold eyes at the trouble making Wizard Marshal who looked up with 'hm?'

"What did you do with my things?" and gold eyes only got a fanged smile. "You are so dead once I finish this tea."

"Too late," the vampire smiled widely. "Already am."

"Then consider it more permanent," as the glowing green eyed companion could barely suppress his laughter.

* * *

Naruto, having finished watching the music video, simply stared up at the sky above him. He didn't know if the peace of the last few weeks would last, but he wanted it to, regardless. It was only a look at the moon's position that told him he needed to go to bed.

* * *

On the morning of the 15th, Naruto was at the dinner table eating breakfast, yawning while attempting to down some coffee without the sugar. When Akagi got over to his spot at the table, she said to him, "Rise and shine, Naruto! You look dead. Didn't you sleep well?"

Naruto, perhaps because he was still an honest young man, answered, "Er, not exactly. I was really restless last night, and I had to stay up to make sure that I could actually get tired enough to sleep."

"That makes no sense, you realize that, dattebumi," Akagi shook her head at her brother's stupidity with such a lame excuse.

"Okay, okay," Naruto grumbled at his snippy sister, something he was sure she got from their mother, "I was just troubled and couldn't sleep, dattebayo."

Akagi nodded in response to that. Everyone was feeling on edge and some couldn't sleep well. For a reason that she suspected, she was able to sleep perfectly fine. Then again, she had a feeling that since she had been Yoko no Kurama, it was just natural. Unlike her lunkhead of a brother who tended to be excitable and deep when a lot of people were least expecting it. So she wasn't surprised he had lost some sleep. So it was up to her to wake him up.

"OWWW!" Naruto shouted as he launched up and began hopping up and down on one foot, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR, DATTEBAYO!"

"Preventive medicine, dattebumi," Akagi stated as she left with a sway in her hips that caught Naruto's attention along with a seductive smile before she disappeared from his view.

"That girl is going to be the death of me, dattebayo," Naruto shook his head, collected his things, and was off to school early.

* * *

After the classes were done, Naruto was simply walking back home from school when he felt something odd going on in an abandoned library near the civilian park. Due to curiosity getting the better of him, he walked into the building, taking extra care to help maintain the structure. When he got to the front door, he opened it slowly, so as to keep it on its hinges.

Following the source of his feeling to the back of the library, Naruto was surprised to find a wall that was opened without a door built into it, but only because there was a secret room on the other side of the wall. With the discovery of this room, he walked through the hole, mainly to see what was on the far end that got his attention.

In hindsight, he wouldn't know whether or not to go back in time and undo that particular incident, especially as the wall repaired itself near instantaneously when he walked through.

* * *

"I was told that you felt the need to dispatch a squadron to Sector X18999," an old man, in a military outfit one might expect from a science fiction novel, said from his desk in his office. The office had plain metallic walls that were made out of a derivative of chrome, while the flooring was a special variety of granite tiles, and the ceiling was a mixture of the chrome derivative and the variety of granite.

"It was a necessary action," a second old man responded to the military officer. This old man, wearing a scientist's outfit, was standing a couple meters away from the desk where the officer sat and to the right of a blonde assistant of his, who wore the female version of a scientist's outfit.

The old officer countered, "That can cause unnecessary violence. I can't allow it if it's not to support one of our bases in controlled worlds."

"Whatever you think best, sir," was the scientist's reply.

"We'd still like to hear the reasoning behind your decision," another military officer said from in between the desk and the scientists. "Exactly how dangerous is this stolen Void Genome?"

"Well, sir," the assistant moved forward in an attempt to explain, but was cut off by her boss walking forward himself a bit further than her.

"That's level 3A classified intelligence," was the cryptic response to the military officers.

"So classified, you can't even divulge it to Imperium's head of External Affairs? Is that what you're telling me?" the military officer questioned the scientist.

"I'm afraid so, sir," the scientist answered. "Frankly, only the top 12 and anyone higher up are allowed to override that. Then again, there's no need to worry. My group of Jurgand agents have already apprehended the culprit and are searching for the stolen Genome as we speak."

* * *

_Inside a prison van in a rundown village in the Land of Fire…_

"Still don't feel like talking to us, huh?" a dark-skinned man, wearing an outfit similar to a doctor's uniform with brown shades, said to a bound and blindfolded Sakuinori, who had her head lowered to face her lap, intent on interrogating her. "You must know that we have the authority to wipe clean any trace of the supernatural and those infected by it without giving any sign of warning. If you don't tell us where you've hidden this Genome, we'll have to purify this land of _every_ diseased resident with a _sea_ of _fire_!" As the man continued to speak, he knelt forward and grabbed her by her hair with his left hand, yanking her head up and to his left. In his right hand, he pulled out a blade that he then placed edge first against her left cheek. After waiting a few seconds, he moved the blade away and released her head, before muttering, "This was your decision."

With that, he walked outside of the prison van and started radioing the rest of the task force of Jurgand agents and Endlave pilots. _"Attention all units! All area residents have been designated as Stage 7 infected! Begin infection control protocol!"_

After finishing the radio broadcast, the officer was approached from behind by a lieutenant and asked, "What do you want us to do with the Sylvain girl?"

Turning his head to face the subordinate, he answered, "Wait until the purge is over and then dump her body outside… preferably dead in a ditch."

* * *

Kushina had been doing her paperwork. There was quite a bit to be done, especially as of late. Fortunately, the oversized crazed animals had largely begun to be manageable as of late. This helped to get some things calmed down and for her to catch up on important paperwork.

With her in her office was Uchiha Mikoto, the Uchiha Clan Head's wife. She was simply visiting and helping Kushina on the side with the odd clan issue. The Uchiha had thankfully not been pushy about Naruto marrying one of their girls and Mikoto was a bit happy she didn't have a daughter, though it was also sad too. Sad that she didn't get to raise a girl all her own and happy that she didn't have to worry about arranging marriages and such.

Clan Politics sucked a bit too much most of the time, especially if you were a woman.

Since she and Kushina were close, it probably didn't matter much to begin with. Both knew that their clans had the same heritage as the Senju, but that was a minor point in history as far as anyone was concerned. Which was far different from the Hyuuga Clan who kept trying to insist on Naruto marrying one of their girls. They had even gone as far as offering up the Clan Head's eldest daughter and even considered giving Naruto Hyuuga Hanabi, the younger daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi, as a concubine as well.

So far, it hadn't gone particularly far.

As such, both women were merely talking as Kushina did her work. Of course, the topic of their discussion was what their boys had been up to, topics of the latest gossip, and Mikoto was showing off a new outfit that she had gotten in hopes of getting her husband to put aside his own paperwork and spend some _alone _time with his _lonely _wife.

"I remember that Minato would simply make time when asked," Kushina pouted with puffed out cheeks as she turned her head to the side with her eyes closed.

"Gomen, gomen," Mikoto put the item back into the bag she was carrying it in. "I'll treat you to something _special _if you can give me an honest opinion though?"

Kushina cracked an eye open just enough to see her friend's mischievous smile. The emphasis that had been placed on 'special' told her what Mikoto meant too. It caused her heart to beat just thinking about it. Her breath hitched as well as she struggled to maintain a pouting look. Even though her cheeks began to become painted with red just at the mere thought of that _special _promise. Her legs began to shift as she fought valiantly to keep her body from reacting. She couldn't just give straight in even as the thought of a day at the best Hot Spring Spas in the village was proving so tantalizingly good…

What could she do? She knew that Mikoto had her. But, she was the Hokage, she couldn't just roll over that easily.

"Make it two days, throw in the full package for Akagi, and you got yourself a deal."

"Done and done."

_"__YES!"_

Then the door flew open and in came a panicky Ninja.

"Lady Hokage! Naruto has gone missing!"

**_"_****_WHAT?!"_**

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes snapped open. He was enjoying a little break when his senses were alerted. It had been some time, but he remembered it clearly. That issue was far from addressed, but the seals on it should have been powerful enough to last longer than that; they had broken all at once!

He rose from his hammock just as Danzo arrived to speak with him.

"Sarutobi," Danzo's already grim look turned even more grim.

"I know." Both men left silently, heading in the direction of the disturbance, Danzo quietly ordering his Root guards to not follow, they would be utterly useless.

* * *

Naruto spun around the instant that the wall repaired itself, to see that there was no way out the way he came in. When he looked for a way out of his predicament, he noticed that the walls were devoid of doors, being covered with pictures of some sort. Further ahead about twelve meters, a book sat covered in dust, bathed in light of some sort that made it glow eerily. With the book being the only clue as to what was going on, he walked forward to read the book, noticing that there was something about it that made it seem… off in some way.

By the time he got to the book, he noticed that it had characters that seemed foreign, but… it was as if he could understand the script it used. He also noticed that the book was open to what seemed to be the first page, which was strange, seeing that books were supposed to be read from right to left… right?

As he was about to fully close the book, he noticed the front cover had a design that resembled a tree-like monster with nine eyes and 10 waving tails, about to fire off a ball of some sort of energy that looked suspiciously like his dad's Jutsu creation, the Rasengan. Above the design, there was a title text that read, "Shinju: Origins of the Bijuu Predecessor". Under the design was the name of the author, _Uzukano Pierre_, a name that Naruto didn't recognize.

"Shinju? Never heard of that monster before now," Naruto said to himself, his free hand cupping his chin. "Then again, I haven't heard of a lot of things going on in my life that have, so there's that." With that, he re-opened the book and began reading in the language that he didn't really know how he understood.

* * *

_What Naruto was reading…_

Before I begin, I feel it is imperative to give a history of the areas that Shinju and those responsible for it came from, because one must understand the past to better prepare for the future. After all, history repeats itself, so they say. Please bear with me as I share the past.

-Uzukano Pierre

x-^-c-^-x

And man forgot.

No one is able to say why it happened — or how. Perhaps some sort of natural phenomenon erased our memories. Perhaps we broke a rule of some unknown power, and we were punished for that. Perhaps, simply put, we did it to ourselves.

Like small children, reduced to something little more than animals, we roamed throughout centuries while our arrogant civilization tumbled down around us. Everything turned to ruins. The ruins turned to dust. And the dust was taken by the wind. The world had a different name then.

But no one remains to remember it.

x-^-c-^-x

At some point, man caught their attention. Why? We will never know. Perhaps something in our nature attracted them to us. It is also possible that we woke them with our silent cries. They did not belong to this world. They came from far away, and their arrival split the sky and fragmented the earth. For a time, the unknowns observed us closely, studying who we were and what we had become. They were intrigued — fascinated in their own way about our condition. Those beings could not decide between intervening or, on the other hand, remaining hidden and letting evolution continue unaltered.

But in the end, they chose something unexpected. They created their own work inspired by us.

Thus the Duk'zarist were born. They were a perfected version of man — dually shaped from the darkness of our ignorant years and the fire that they hoped would light their way. In them, the principal human feelings were increased. They were gifted with great powers, but at the same time, they carried a tremendous weakness. However, the greatest difference that distinguished them from us was rooted deep within their very essence. Their souls, even though made in the image and likeness of ours, were more closely bound to the spiritual world than that of ours. Thus, they possessed supernatural powers, that, with time, we would once again call magic.

And thus, from one day to the next, they walked beside us. And ever since that sunrise, we would never be alone again.

However, some of the creators were not satisfied with their work. The unknowns thought that they had only limited themselves by carrying out a simple adaptation of a "something" that already existed. Therefore, they proceeded to give life once again. This time, they dug deeper into the forgotten memories of man, their endless fountain of inspiration, and from the imagination of humankind would sprout a new kind of creature.

This new race would be an incarnation of fantasy, born from our goblins and fairies. To differentiate them even more from the Duk'zarist, they based their souls on the supernatural powers of the light. Even now, we call them a name from our fairy tales — elves. However, they have their own name: Sylvain.

But this second work was not warmly received by those who considered the Duk'zarist and humans as the focal point of their attention. A silent reprimand surrounded the void in which the creators lived, a silence that even the mortals could hear.

The situation worsened. While some limited themselves to observing, others gave free reign to their creativity. Not counting on the others, they again conceived new creations, and an amalgam of creatures appeared in that world with no name. They even gave life to the elements themselves and to beings whose nature is completely unexplainable — like great beasts, gods and demons.

In very little time, disagreement among the creators reached unimaginable levels — and Creation itself would be witness to its consequences…

^-c-^

The fight did not last nine days or nine nights. Nor did it last hours. Perhaps everything ended in minutes — or maybe even less. In the end, however, C'iel and Gaira stood among the desolation. Were they living weapons built by the creators to assure mutual destruction? Were they beings capable of devouring gods with a simple thought? Could they erase those who had brought them into existence? Or would they be the incarnation of the conscious will of each side? Primordial concepts prior to creation.

Whatever the answer, neither one found a reason to continue the confrontation. And they were not alone. Seven beings, survivors of the battle, were raised by each side. Alongside C'iel, who the elves of today call the Lady of the Light, stood the Beryl. The Shajad, the Lords of Darkness, stood with Gaira.

No one knows why mortals did not suffer the consequences of this conflict. Nor is it known what made C'iel and Gaira decide to stay with us. Perhaps, within themselves, they felt that they had to protect us and stay next to all those children who were starting to take their first steps.

As time drew on, the land had a new name. It would be called Gaïa.

x-^-c-^-x

There is not a lot to be said about what happened in the years following the conflict except that it was a period of splendor and progress. Every race began to flourish and advanced quickly in several fields, pressing forward in the arts, philosophy, and even in new forms of science. Cities were established, and the first kingdoms were formed — some of which even grew to become empires. In the beginning, the newly arrived had little interaction between themselves, given that each race was found over distant places along the globe. Only the humans, spread out all over the place, found themselves interacting with various races at once. Back then, man still lived in a cultural state that was pretty primitive. However, thanks to the influence of other civilizations, we began to find our place, little by little, in the new order of things.

It was an era where the supernatural could be found everywhere. The warlocks wielded mystical forces with ease, and the line that separated the Wake from the material world was so thin that all types of creatures could manifest themselves physically. The Shajad and Beryl continued to work during this period of development, making small interventions and handing out knowledge to some. They taught the beginnings of magic and observed with joy how their teachings were quickly assimilated. They never demanded anything in return. Neither of them had desire to become gods or to receive adoration —although many of their incarnations inspired cults to a variety of deities and demons. As time passed, each faction began to feel an attraction for certain races and cultures, especially those that were evolving in a way that was more akin to their ideals.

Like the first born, the civilizations that progressed more quickly were the Sylvain and the Duk'zarist. The Sylvain gravitated to the philosophy of C'iel, who maintained the idea that all living things have a right to live in an established order of complete equality, and they moved forward in accordance with this idea. On the contrary, the Duk'zarist developed a culture that was more similar to Gaira, whose ideology affirmed that the strong should rule over the meek, so as to avoid chaos and destruction. Thus, the Duk'zarist evolved militarily, inventing weapons of great force and focusing on the use of magic for warfare.

Unavoidably, the different ideologies between these two main cultures were clearly in conflict, and the relations between both races became more tense. Finally, the Duk'zarist came to the conclusion that if things continued to evolve this way, all of Gaïa would find itself plunged into anarchy. Therefore, they decided that the time had come to impose a new order. Lead by Ghestalt Noah Orbatos, their first emperor, they began what would be known as the War of Darkness.

Perhaps something deep within them, their human source, drove them to fight.

^-c-^

The war was terrible, and both earth and sky were stained with blood. C'iel and the Beryl looked on in horror but decided not to intervene openly, so as to prevent Gaira from doing the same. At first, the Duk'zarist focused all of their efforts against the elves, who were unable to face their bellicose might. They dominated demons, elementals and dragons, and built flying fortresses that laid waste to entire cities. In spite of their smaller number, a Duk'zarist warrior could finish off more than ten Sylvain.

Soon, the Duk'zarist began to wage war on various fronts against other races, believing that there was no other force on the face of Gaïa that could stop them. They did not count on the support of all the Shajad, some of whom had looked on with satisfaction at the growth of the cultures that were in danger. In fact, they suggested to Gaira that he should intervene. The Dark Lord, however, preferred to sit back and smile, probably foreseeing what was to come.

It was only near the end that all the people of Gaïa truly understood what their destiny might be. At that moment, between chaos and blood, an individual arose who accomplished what would never happen again — the union of all the races against a common foe. Even now, we do not know who he was — not even his name. Naturally, each culture who remembers the war believes that this person was from their race. Nobody, however, has any proof.

Be that as it may, the last desperate alliance achieved the unthinkable —it stopped the conquerors' advance and made them retreat step by step. This was an inconceivable thought for the Duk'zarist. They observed with growing frustration and dismay as enemies who previously fell before them started to hold their own. Even worse, these upstart races started to use the Duk'zarist weakness to metal against them. Through this war, in fact, the Sylvain had already become a formidable adversary, capable of matching them almost on equal terms.

In the end, the Duk'zarist retreated to their own border, aware that they now fought for their very survival. More then ask, they demanded that the Shajad intervene in their favor, accusing the Dark Ones of turning their backs on them when things turned against them. In that moment of absolute desperation, before the final battle, Ghestalt himself challenged Gaira, urging the Shajad to follow him if he defeat their Lord.

No one doubted the outcome of this confrontation — not even Ghestalt himself.

What else could have happened?

After that final defeat, they retreated into the confines of their land. Reduced in numbers, the Duk'zarist never fully recovered the complete superiority they enjoyed in this period.

Gaïa was in ruins, ready to begin the long process of reconstruction.

x-^-c-^-x

_At about this time in history…_

In a land far away and long forgotten by almost all of us mortals, an ancient dynasty was dwindling to an end. A thousand year war was finally coming to a close, one between the dynasty and a small group of nations that were vying for independence from this dying empire. As the dynasty struggled to avert the inevitable, they made a weapon capable of intelligent thought, combining highly advanced science and the most archaic of esoteric secrets to harness great malice and form the basis for their creation.

This creation, the demonic abomination known as Shinju, was like a newborn learning how to do things for the first time, so its handlers were able to control it better then, until the end days of the war. On the final day of the war, it finally learned how to think for itself, and simply decimated both sides of the battlefield and went on a rampage through imperial lands. Nobody alive knew how to best defeat the beast while it was rampaging….

…nobody, that is, except for a Duk'zarist and Sylvain techno-magical pair that were far removed from Gaïa by sheer accident. They knew how to send it away from their lands for a long time — perhaps even permanently, if the spells and technology were in sync right. Nobody knew where Shinju would go after the pair banished it away from their new homeland — this was a process nobody had even imagined would occur in any lifetime.

Eventually, the process was completed, and Shinju was gone from their land….

…only to appear in another land, one where the sciences were nearly non-existent, and where the mystics were dying off. The power of magic had almost completely ended, and there were no Psychics to begin with, leaving only the Ki practitioners as the vast majority of the supernatural use people. By this point, it was a blessing in disguise that the Shinju arrived, given the sheer amount of magical energy it gave off could revive the magical potential in the human race of that land.

Many people sought to capture it, to do what they could to control it, but to no avail. Many more thought they could destroy it, but even that was a nigh-impossible dream, until….

...the day of the Rikkudo Sennin's victory over Shinju.

Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, the Rikkudo Sennin, was born with the ability to morph Magic and Ki together to make a previously unheard of energy that would allow him to defeat the Shinju and even seal it within his body. The battle was intense, but it was over the moment he unleashed his family's power, the power in his blood: the Rinnegan. As the eyes were made from a mixture of Ki and Magical energy, they were able to hold an untold amount of power that would smooth things over for the rest of the land, with the Sage being declared a "Savior of this World".

The years would pass before the calendar changed to what it is now, starting at year one, but nobody would dare to remember what it was like before. No one had the ability to remember what it was like… no one else, that is.

^-c-^

It is now the year 983 of the current calendar of Gaïa. Magic, which had been diminished with great efficiency more than 700 years prior, is slowly coming back to the population, and the line that separates the world of Wake with ours is becoming ever more fragile. An empire of immense power is on the verge of collapse, the emperor denying the rights of his people to fair lives, and an innumerable amount of lives will be lost before the end of the decade. The souls of the supernatural beings who have died over the course of these last centuries are being reborn in human children, giving rise to the birth of the Nephilim. In addition, entities that have survived for eras hidden from man have realized that the moment has almost arrived to manifest themselves in the world.

All of them can feel it. It's almost begun.

And all the things I have told… I have seen them.

Because I never forgot.

That was my Damnation.

* * *

Naruto closed the book and picked it up off the table, wondering if he could take it with him, when he felt something tingle in the base of his skull. This wasn't like when he felt the wrongness of the demented lions, nor when he felt Akagi get attacked mentally, and it sure wasn't like when he almost died, thanks to those Youkai trying to kill Yamiko, Mika, and himself. It felt… like he was facing the living dead!

The first visible sign was the glowing red eyes. In the darkness, that had been the first sign. Then the sound came. The shuffling sound as they moved. The clanking and clinking of metal. The rustle of cloth. And finally…

The moans.

Naruto swallowed as he turned to see them approach out of hiding. He could only make out so much as the light that surrounded him only went out something like several feet. But he could just make out the shapes and the eyes glowed eerily in the darkness beyond.

"A-ah man," Naruto stammered as he backed up to the table with a bump. "N-not g-g-g-ghosts, but z-z-zombies!"

One got close enough to the light for Naruto to make out ancient bronze and leather armor that was a bit worn and used. The face was covered with an old war mask, though he could make out dark purple skin in a few points where the armor and clothing underneath was frayed and worn. In its right hand, it held an old, but still sharp bronze sword of a very long forgotten design.

It was muscular too as Naruto noted nervously. It was also tall, probably as tall as that ash grey haired perv he saw reading that orange book in public once and giggling like a schoolgirl in love or something. It made groaning, moaning sounds, but yet, something struck Naruto as strange.

The moans were different. Not the 'The Undead is alive and going to eat you' moaning, but rather the moaning of…

Naruto barely jumped up high enough to avoid the slash as the Undead Warrior had suddenly let out an angry scream and attacked him. The table was more smashed instead of cut by that attack, but the creature that was once a man turned to get him. Naruto landed and barely managed to roll behind it as it went with a horizontal slash at him. As the blonde boy looked up, he could see it twist its neck nearly 180 degrees, but guessed it couldn't go all the way without killing itself in the process as if the neck was snapped…

_'__Just like on a living person,'_ Naruto thought as he dodged the next strike and with a Chakra enhanced jump, did a drop kick right to the spinal cord in the neck area. _'They die if the neck is broken in the right spot or loss some of their ability if its damaged and not regenerated in some matter.'_

The satisfying -CRACK!- tore through the room as the undead warrior gave a relieved sound and the body crumpled into a purple mist, leaving only old armor and equipment in its wake to crash noisily to the ground. However, Naruto could tell that this fight was far from over, and only just beginning… especially as he felt three more zombies begin to materialize, as though they weren't really there in the gloom to replace the one that he had felled.

_'__This is bad,'_ Naruto thought about the situation. _'I can't kill them at this rate, and I need a way to get out of here while making sure that they stay down! What am I supposed to do in this case?!'_

Another with light armor and a fully exposed torso came at him with a battleaxe of a design Naruto just knew he would not likely ever find anywhere on the continent. He managed to sweep underneath, but another wielding two knives kept him from going for the neck again, but overextended itself without the support of one with a spear of some kind.

Naruto went for the neck, punching down hard. Only instead of flesh and bone, he punched a solid plate of metal. Naruto recoiled at once in pain and saw his opponent had a strap around the neck with metal plates attached. That meant that he couldn't kick or punch this one.

Then he dodged the second opponent a second time only to watch as the fourth undead leap up high and shatter the light source.

"Oh… crap," Naruto barely dodged, more sensing than seeing the attack.

He then barely dodged another attack. He heard metal grate against something and felt the wind displaced before his face as he managed to get away. A sound of wood that he could scarcely call a true sound of wood was behind him and he only managed to avoid the spear tip, but not getting hit over the head by the shaft.

"Ah man ah man ah man!" Naruto began to panic through the attacks he was getting. He had no viable means of defense. He was surrounded, unable to see and thus unable to defend let alone attack. His breathing hitched up as he could hear the beating of his heart that nearly covered the sounds of the attacks coming at him. Eventually it did along with his own high breathing as a full on panic attack began to occur.

_'__Remember Naruto,'_ he suddenly heard Old Man Hokage's voice. _'We are Shinobi. In darkness, we hide until it is time to strike. We are not the warrior who lives in the light, but the blade that cuts evil within its very realm, the shadows.'_

Naruto caught the shaft of the spear and directed it into the body of the knife fighter as the axe wielder cleaved the skull of the spearman in two allowing Naruto to locate him and strike with a jumping roundhouse kick.

_'__From darkness, we are expected to live and be merely tools Naruto,'_ Sarutobi's words filled his ears as the three opponents fell with a burst of purple smoke and the falling of their tools and gear. _'But if we live entirely in darkness, we become consumed in darkness.'_

Seven enemies made their presence known. Naruto could just feel them materialize around him. He could sense and feel the energy as they moved, shifted, the sound of their moans. They were moving, trying to get an advantage, but Naruto also moved, looking for his own advantage.

_'__That is why the Will of Fire burns within all of us Naruto,'_ he could just see the old leader's kind and gentle smile, as warm as a hearth in winter. _'So when fires burn and tree leaves dance, one shall of course catch fire, but it will illuminate the path for the others and thus our village, our home shall always prosper even in the most trying of times and that is what it means to be Hokage Naruto. To be the tree leaf that shall catch fire and be the fire shadow that will illuminate the entire village.'_

Naruto smashed the jaw of one in so deep, that the head nearly snapped off. The neck broke and the undead warrior seemed to wheeze before it fell, turning to purple smoke and discarded wear and weapons. The noise sounded like a thunderstorm in that moment as armor and weapons clattered noisily on the ground.

Only one down, but five more just materialized.

Someone now figured out that Naruto wasn't going down without a fight.

Naruto only smirked at that. He always did prefer a straight challenge to sneaking around. He rolled his shoulders and neck and brought a hand up as he took a stance.

"Believe it," he smirked into the darkness, the enemy seeing it and his 'Bring it' gesture to them.

With roars of madness and hate, they charged. With a plethora of weapons, they intended to kill Naruto, rending him limb from limb. To cause insufferable pain and agony as they chopped and cut him open. To hear his screams of pain and torment as he was run through and beaten.

But Naruto simply dodged the first strike to axe kick one right the face snapping the head back as the neck broke. Another was grabbed by Naruto's legs as he swung around on the enemy and let go, throwing the undead off balance and onto several spears and swords that caused absolute damage and caused it to burst away. Naruto punched another in the face while using it as a springboard to rotate his body and then push off. A pair of feet met the next enemy, armed with a bow that shot the face of one pursuing Naruto.

One with heavy armor let out a loud snarl and bellowed a bastardized warcry as it came at Naruto as the blonde landed. It raised its spear high for a downward strike and before Naruto realized what was different, he was slammed by a slab of metal.

Naruto bounced and skipped before he found himself crashing into the wrecked table. As the blonde tried to clear the spots from his eyes and regain his senses, he was slammed a second time by another moving slab of metal. Naruto skipped and bounced again until he was kicked in another direction causing one of his arms to briefly dislocate before it relocated on the next bounce.

Naruto scarcely heard the axe descending, but managed to roll out of the way, but the butt of a spear shaft caught him just below the ribs as his coat caught on the wood and he was flung up and over to crash yet again into the broken table, shattering what was left beneath him.

Coughing up some blood Naruto realized that the slabs must have been shields. He had heard of them before. They were scoffed at by the Samurai as cowardly. But Ninja knew that most of their range weapons would only harmlessly bounce off a shield. Even the deadly accurate Yumi Bow could not fight a shield and win. It was deadly on lightly armored foes or when precisely aimed. But shields denied all chance of death as they lacked the penetration power to get through all but the most basic and simple of shields.

Naruto could make out the one that got him first. Something about it screamed leader as it approached him. It had a large shield, wider at the top and thin at the bottom. In its right hand was an iron spear that Naruto recalled that girl Tenten had a book with a picture of one recently excavated from some ruins somewhere. Now, here, an old and worn one with a still sharp edge was going to kill him.

Then Naruto felt something unlocked within him.

As the spear descended, Naruto ascended over the attack as he screamed a war cry and brought his fist down forward.

The undead armored foe quickly brought his shield around to defend, but Naruto's fist burst through with a glowing energy encasing it as it also went into the enemy leader, breaking through its thick armor, too, and causing a small explosion to appear and burst from its back.

The shield fell, broken in two, as the spear and holed armor followed.

Naruto brought his fists up as they glowed with a bright reddish orange that condensed into glowing gauntlets on his forearms. The new energy armor covered from the tips of his fingers all the way back to his elbows. Hands up in a fighting style he had seen and imitated a few times called 'Boxing,' Naruto punched forward a couple of times and the streaks of light seemed to make Naruto alight as though he was wreathed in fire, burning as a beacon in the darkness.

"Who's next?" he questioned as madden roars met his ears and he could now see his opponents charge.

One chopped with an iron axe, only for Naruto to maneuver beneath the wild swing and punch upward into the face, the head exploding off.

Another with an iron sword swept around for a vertical cut as another with a bronze spear stabbed forward.

Naruto stepped back, dodging the sword cut as he slid around the spear thrust and then delivered two quick punches.

To the side of the swordsman, he exploded into empty armor to one side.

And the face of the spearman whose feet kicked up as the empty armor sailed through the air behind Naruto.

Another armored foe with spear and shield came at Naruto only for Naruto to step in and around both hand carries to deliver a Liver Punch that exploded the undead within and caused the armor to drop. But before the spear could hit the ground, Naruto spun and kicked it.

The spear struck one enemy in the lower torso causing it stagger as the spear went through. When it recovered and roared in anger, it accidently knocked over three of its allies in the process which left Naruto with an opening allowing him to attack fast and hard.

His body was telling him he was nearly out of power for his newfound attack. He would have to end it in a hurry. He closed in on the spear wielder to his left and punched it in the chest, using the energy to recoil off to strike out with his other hand for a flying downward punch with his left hand into the shoulder of a swordsman.

Both exploded into purple smoke, but then Naruto coughed up blood and he stumbled.

_'__My ribs!'_ Naruto thought as he could suddenly feel the surge of pain in his chest and abdomen.

He had forgotten just how badly hurt he was. Then that move back there had done him in. It had increased his injury level by leaps and bounds. He barely managed to dodge the archer's first shot, but the second one got him in his shoulder.

"GAH!" Naruto cried out as he fell back and onto his wounded shoulder, inflicting even more harm, "AHH!"

The impaled axeman only grinned ferally as it chopped the spear into pieces and then pulled the shaft out of its body. It dropped the broken wood as it advanced, ready to bring down its axe on Naruto.

Naruto could see through the pain induced haze as more of the undead warriors appeared and there was nothing he could do to stop their advance. Well, the advance of the axeman as the archer covered with a notched arrow at the ready. Naruto only grinned as death approached him.

"That's all it took?" he chuckled with a sardonic laugh. "But is it really over?"

The axeman seemed to agree as it hefted up its axe to end it as it finally stepped next to Naruto. Before it could bring down the axe to end Naruto's life….

Some high powered search lights turned on in consecutive order, making the zombies that were left pause and look in the direction of light, even as four more materialized out of nowhere to back up their comrades.

Footfall could be heard coming from the direction of the lights, as a sloped platform was formed for the figure to arrive on top of, and arrive he did. The man - for the figure didn't have the looks of a woman at all - stopped on the topmost part of the platform, his silvery black hair short and spiky, and his ebon eyes looking stoically at the six zombies in the immediate area. His green trenchcoat was moving like there was a slight wind, while his black pants and light-orange shirt remained without a single stain, showing his sense of fashion in the battlefield.

"Well! Look at all these corpses!" The man said to the zombies in the area.

"(Huh?! _What_ corpses?!)" The zombie with the axe growled out, though it wasn't understandable to anyone but the man that appeared out of nowhere.

"I'm afraid you boys got yourself into a situation that you're gonna have to _die_ your way out of." The man answered. Before he continued to talk, he stepped forward and jumped off of the platform, landing in front of the zombie and forcing it to back away from Naruto. "So, you already look like a bunch of corpses to me."

Another of the zombies growled out to a third, "(Hey, is that Pierre?!)"

"(Damn!)"

Axe zombie growled out to the new guy, "(You've got some balls, pretty boy!)" With that, it prepped the axe in its hand to attack the other living person in the area, only for the man to dodge left and catch the arm. While the zombie would have withstood the treatment it was about to receive, Naruto was able to sense that the energy he thought was only for him flow through the man's body, reinforcing his body.

The man chopped the back of the upper arm of the zombie, forcing it to let go of the axe, while he twisted around to the back of the zombie, twisting the arm with him. When the man punched the zombie on its spine near the neck, he almost immediately tossed the zombie to the base of the platform, destroying it in one go.

The second zombie to rush at the man, sword in its undead hands, let out a roar, though the man let out a swiping punch that busted its nose, before rushing to hold its shoulders and do a sweeping kick that busted the legs behind the knees. With a backhand swipe, it, too, fell to the ground, destroyed as well.

Bow zombie let loose its arrow, though it missed the target, forcing the zombie to drop the bow and rush at the man. With the element of surprise lost, it knew that this was the one thing left to do, even though it was bound to be destroyed. As the zombie rushed the man, he spun around and planted his right knee into the undead's face, before performing a roundhouse kick that caused the zombie to fall backwards and disintegrate.

Naruto, having gotten some of the damage done to his body healed by his incredible healing rate, stood up somewhat, book in his bag, while he could finally understand what the zombies had said before. It was while he comprehended the conversation that he heard one of the remaining undead exclaim, "(Holy shit, it _is_ him!)"

It was at this time that the fourth zombie got punched in a flurry of blows that hit the upper torso all the way to the head, a backhanded swipe ending that particular one, sending the armor and spear clattering to the ground.

Naruto saw, up in the area where the lights were coming from, a group of men holding strange weapons that he'd later learn were called automatic rifles, keeping their sights on the last two undead in the area, as he fully stood back up. For whatever reason, he was holding a strange contraption in his hands, something that looked like a rice cooker that probably wasn't. When the undead remaining in the area noticed that they didn't stand a chance, they decided to run away, seemingly into an open space that appeared out of nowhere—

*CRASH!*

—only to hit the wall and get reminded that they weren't in an open space.

Naruto, looking back at the one to cause such a beatdown, was startled when he saw an older girl in front of him by mere centimeters. Saying the first thing that came to mind, the words uttered were, "Uh, I'm not with them."

The girl, not amused with Naruto for some reason, lifted a hand and pointed down at the rice cooker lookalike, before yelling, "And you don't need Funell! Now let go!" With that, she yanked "Funell" out of his grasp and walked off.

Turning to face Naruto, the man, Pierre, asked rhetorically, "You're Uzumaki Naruto?"

Naruto's eyes widened when he heard his name come from the man's lips, as Pierre walked over to him, to stand a meter away from him. When the older man found it time to continue speaking, he said, "Last I checked, there should have been a girl with that."

Naruto gasped in shock, unsure what all he was supposed to be aware of… until he remembered something important from when he was going to school earlier that day.

* * *

_Naruto, feeling like he should go to school early, walked from his home to the Ninja Academy, though it was when he was fifteen meters away from the school that he heard a song from his left, in the abandoned school club house. When he went to investigate, he found that his classmate, Sakura, was holding a bandaged wound on her left arm, her choice of outfit undone at the collar for some reason, and she was singing a song while looking up at the ceiling, though it seemed like Sakura was… different. However, before Naruto could figure out what was different about her, he had walked a meter towards her when his foot accidentally kicked a can. Not only did this startle her, but it also sent the robot that suspiciously looked like a rice cooker, which was hiding behind her, into attack mode, sending out a whip that attached itself to Naruto's leg and sending him flying to the ground._

_After a bit of time, Naruto got the situation calmed down, even going as far as offering Sakura his meal when it was discovered that she didn't eat that morning or the night prior. After the impromptu meal time, Sakura was playing Cat's in the Cradle, apparently getting that from Elesia._

_In order to break the silence, Naruto asked, "So, Sakura-chan, why are you not in class, and how did you get so banged up?"_

_Whatever Naruto was expecting for an answer, he didn't get. Instead, Sakura said, "I need to get this vial to Pierre." Ignoring Naruto's look of confusion, she turned to him, Cat's in the Cradle finished, before saying, "Take this."_

_Leaning closer to Sakura, Naruto asked, "Sakura-chan, what's wrong with you? Do you remember who I am? I'm Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto!"_

_"__You know, you'll never be able to do anything if you're too afraid. Tell me, Uzumaki Naruto… are you afraid?" Sakura asked in return, with Naruto staring closely at the string made in a Cat's Cradle, before a strange memory surfaced from the deep recesses of his mind… a young woman was being turned into crystal as a fire broke out near her._

_Upon snapping out of it, Naruto gasped and demanded, "What…?! What the hell… was _that_?!"_

_At that moment, a squad of soldiers in strange full-body armor burst into the old clubhouse, each possessing something that Naruto would later realise was an Assault Rifle. As Sakura noticed that the soldiers were there for her, she ran over to the guard rail of the upper level and jumped down, after saying, "Funell."_

_"__Wait, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out, even as the robot tried to follow her… only for it to lose some of its mobility and fall flat on its underbelly._

_Sakura was about to run right into the commanding officer of the soldiers, but stopped herself, and then attempted to go around the man—_

_"__Not so fast!" the officer grabbed onto her left arm, bringing her to a halt, before a soldier rammed the butt of his weapon into her stomach. The officer turned his attention to Naruto, asking him, "Are you a student?"_

_Naruto, dumbstruck by the situation, answered, "Uh, y-yes, sir! Um, I don't think you noticed, but she's injured pretty badly, and—"_

_"__This woman is a criminal, and if you plan on protecting her, we can purge you, too, as her accomplice!" the officer retorted before Naruto could finish, with soldiers bringing their guns up to bare on him._

_As Naruto backed away and ducked to the floor, he remembered that these men weren't Konoha ninja one bit, though he didn't have much of a chance to question who these men worked for._

_The officer turned to a grunt and asked, "What are the results of the background check?"_

_"__We have ascertained that she is a member of Funeral Parlor in Tokyo, Major," the grunt answered._

_"__Hmph!" The 'Major' turned to face Sakura and said, "Worthless terrorist SCUM!" While he said the word 'scum', the officer kicked Sakura in the jaw, forcing her head to go limp momentarily. Turning to the soldiers, he said, "Let's bring her in."_

_After getting the affirmative, they dragged Sakura out of the clubhouse, leaving Naruto all alone to say to himself, "Why the hell didn't I try to help her?"_

_It was only five minutes later when Naruto noticed that the robot was gone, though a vial appeared in his pocket, and Umino Iruka came to the clubhouse shortly afterward to see what was going on._

* * *

Naruto shook his head as the memory came to the fore. His head pounded as he tried to recall every detail. Strangely, he couldn't remember what had happened afterwards. He let out a low sound as his mind tried to process the unlocked memory and organize his thoughts so he could form an appropriate action in response.

But the fact remained as well. He had let her get taken away without a fight. Why did he do that? That wasn't him at all. It was so strange that he couldn't understand it. But he had to be truthful, no matter how much it hurt… right? That's what he had to do. So….

Looking down at the ground, Naruto said to Pierre, "Well, she… I…."

Narrowing his eyes at Naruto, Pierre said, "You abandoned her."

Clenching his fists in preparation to hit the man in front of him, Naruto almost missed the undead trying to sneak up on the man in front of him, though he didn't need to worry about them killing Pierre. Pierre, for his part, spun to face them; index fingers pointed like guns, and fired Ki streams at them. The streams of Ki went through the two remaining undead and even broke down the wall that didn't look like it was there, creating an opening for Naruto to leave for home, though….

A major explosion sounded off in the distance, if the huge fireball was any indication, though Naruto wondered if there was any trouble back home from the source of the explosion.

As it turned out, one of the soldiers under Pierre came out of a building and yelled, "Heads up! The Imperium Forces have launched a full-scale attack on the Konoha Sector!"

_'__Konoha Sector?'_ Naruto thought in confusion, before he realized something. "Wait, is Konoha under attack by those soldiers that have strange full-body armor?!"

"Not just your home village, Naruto," Pierre said grimly.

* * *

Explosions resounded as people fled and buildings burned. The military forces who could muster their strength were being overwhelmed by opponents they had never seen before. Even the ninja of the villages fell before their opponents.

For one dying ninja, all he could see of the enemy that had torn his outpost to pieces were giant shapes and hear mechanical sounds before a giant foot came down, crushing him as a red light glowed through smoke.

Fast as the wind, the Invasion has begun.

* * *

**Xamusel Eleventh A/N: Okay, people, this chapter was kinda the result of me having a plan and eventually saying, "Ah, screw it." I want to apologize to the one person that seems to know my plans for how the story was going to go, because I ended up screwing us both over, given that I had made the plan and he was going to follow it to the letter with me.**

**Oh well.**

**Allow me to introduce a character concept of mine: Uzukano Pierre. I initially developed him as a Self-Insert for my other Fanfiction profile to use, but things got out of hand in that regard, what with the fact that none of the stories I wrote with him in them were ever going to be published as stories under my other pen name. Then there's the fact that I had constantly changed his appearance quite a few times over the course of my writing career, as well as some other key facts about him, like what his name was before.**

**Then there's the fact that I had made Pierre the one in charge of a resistance cell in the story that goes by the name Funeral Parlor. You might need to watch some anime to know what Funeral Parlor is, particularly, but, suffice to say, you'll be happy to know that it's not going to be primarily like its canon counterpart.**

**Oh, one other thing about him. I picture Pierre being voiced by Micah Solusod, the voice actor that dubs Gai Tsutsugami in Guilty Crown.**

**For now, though, I'll let Tomcat talk about things.**

* * *

**F-14 Tomcat Lover Fourth A/N: Okay. The Zombies should be familiar to you if you played Fire Emblem: Awakening. They are the Risen, not your canned flesh eaters, but more of Undead Warriors.**

**Since Naruto ain't no armor or weapon specialist, the descriptions were intentionally left vague. The chief reason is that they could be just about any age and/or type. The other reason, I just felt to be lazy and let your imagination fill in the gaps.**

**Just kidding!**

**As for Danzo and Sarutobi, more to come as they say.**

**Now, as for Kushina and Mikoto's scene. I know we might get some flames from some diehard Anti-Uchihas, but the two were friends and such. So, really, was that scene out of place? Nope.**

**It also allows for some internal politics to be seen and sheds light on why the Uchiha are still around. That is to say that the future will not change, but for now, the Uchiha are happy clan and life is good for them.**

**Now, as for the Hyuuga. They can't stand that their rivals are getting up there. Being close to the current Hokage has put them into a better position. While the Hyuuga want a higher position as indicated by trying to marry a daughter or two or three off to Naruto, they aren't pushing so hard as to cause problems.**

**Most times, you find that the politics can get real dirty. Here, that's not the case. The two clans know troop strengths are low. They are one of the strongest, just not ****_THE _****strongest village.**

**That's Kumo.**

**Though, Konoha and Iwa are tied for Second Place as far as I can figure it. That leaves Fourth Place to Suna and Fifth (and questionable that) to Kiri.**

**So while the political status quo is well received by the Hyuuga, things could be much worse and they know it.**

**But, this is a time of change. From the times of the wars of past, to the future that comes. As time passes, things do change.**

**Additionally, this is all a work in progress. Improvements will come as time marches on. So do expect to see some improvements and changes as things progress.**

**That is all.**

**Dis-****_MISSED!_**

**Please Review!**

* * *

**Xamusel Twelfth A/N: Oh, by the way, for those of you curious about Naruto's energy gauntlets. That's actually the first sign of his Ki abilities evolving beyond just sensing. That was a thought that came to me with the battle at the forefront. I had initially told Tomcat to handle the battle and let Naruto activate a combat Ki technique, but it took me a while before I came up with the specifics of his abilities.**

**Also, there's a limit to Naruto's use of Ki in a day, specifically 9 uses of the Ki Gauntlets. Of course, given that Naruto is the epitome of "genius of hard work", he knows all too well how to bust the limits that are current.**

**Well, time for me to get going, and time for you to review the chapter. Tell us what we need to do to fix it up.**

**_Sayonara no Tsubasa  
_****_~Xamusel_**

* * *

**PS: This would have been uploaded yesterday, but I forgot, mainly because I was dead tired and wanted to go to bed.**

**Well, so much for that, especially as I plan on uploading the final chapter in about 35 hours from now.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Xamusel Thirteenth A/N: Alright, final Pilot Chapter here, which means that things are going to get crazy from here on out. Of course, "crazy" is relative, and could very well mean different things for everyone. In this case? Think that invasion which was mentioned last chapter, and what happens when it comes into full swing, which it does in this chapter (even if on a smaller scale than something like Orochimaru invading Konoha in canon).**

**Well, I've probably kept you guys waiting on this part longer than I should have, what with the previous chapter being well delayed. With that… here you all go!**

* * *

_Schnell wie der Wind_

_Hat die Invasion begonnen_

_Erschüttert den Boden_

_Mit der Gewalt von 1000 Geschützen!_

_Die ersten in der Schusslinie_

_Als erste ins Feindesland_

_Panzer weisen den Weg!_

_Gehen voran!_

_Greifen die Kampflinien_

_Mit der Macht eines wütenden Sturms an_

_Blitzartig_

_Tauchen Phantome in Schwärmen auf_

_200 Meilen ben Einbruch der Nacht_

_Eingenommen innerhalb eines Tages_

_Machen sich so einen Namen_

_Ernten den Ruhm_

_Sie sind die Panzer Elite_

_Geboren, um zu kämpfen_

_Weichen neimals zurück_

_Gespensterdivision!_

_Lebendig oder tot_

_Immer voran_

_Ernährt von eurer Furcht_

_Immer voran_

_Während der Blitzkrieg weiterwütet_

_Brechen die Moral_

_Mit dem Klang aufflammender Geschütze_

_Die ersten in der Schusslinie_

_Als erste ins Feindesland_

_Panzer weisen den Weg!_

_Gehen voran!_

_Hinterlassen eine Spur der Verwüstung_

_In einem frendem Land_

_Führen einen Krieg aus Überzeugung_

_Gewaltiger Angriff_

_Leben, um dem Nazi-Plan zu dienen_

_Stolz der Wermacht, Gespensterdivision!_

_Nachrichtenverbindungen sind unterbrochen_

_Phantome sind zu weit entfernt_

_Machen sich so einen Namen_

_Ernten den Ruhm_

_Sie sind die Panzer Elite_

_Geboren, um zu kämpfen_

_Weichen neimals zurück_

_Gespensterdivision!_

_Lebendig oder tot_

_Immer voran_

_Ernährt von eurer Furcht_

_Treiben die Front voran_

_Mit einer ungeheuerlichen Macht_

_Weit voraus, brechen den Widerstand_

_Brechen die Schneise_

_Für das Panzerkorps_

_Zeigen keine Furcht, unabhängig_

_Die ersten in der Schusslinie_

_Als erste ins Feindesland_

_Panzer weisen den Weg!_

_Forden den Ruhm!_

_Sie sind die Panzer Elite_

_Geboren, um zu kämpfen_

_Weichen neimals zurück_

_Gespensterdivision!_

_Lebendig oder tot_

_Immer voran_

_Ernährt von eurer Furcht_

_Sie sind die Panzer Elite_

_Geboren, um zu kämpfen_

_Weichen neimals zurück_

_Gespensterdivision!_

_Lebendig oder tot_

_Immer voran_

_Ernährt von eurer Furcht_

**_Prologue Arc_**

**_Pilot Part 5_**

**_First fight for the Land of Fire_**

In the Land of Fire, explosions ripped through towns large and small alike as pandemonium spread throughout the land. The various defense forces ranging from town guards to ashigaru were caught flat footed and some broke almost immediately as others fled in confusion creating long lines of routed soldiers fleeing for their lives. The civilians were getting killed left and right as soon as they were spotted and many fled with just the clothes on their back and perhaps a bundle with a few possessions and some food, joining the ranks of routed troops and adding to the general confusion and hindrance of the army's mobilization. Even the Samurai of the Daimyo were being killed off as they tried to form their unit ranks and organize a coherent defense of their country and lands. But like the more common soldiers, they were forced into a rout unable to stem the tide, not unlike the soldiers of Funeral Parlor that were defending the civilians and yet also caught up in the mass exodus that hampered communications and prevented forward movement. Then came the terror that terrified many to their very souls… the Endlaves as they charged forward, breaking resistance and moving faster than the wind with strength greater than lightning. They were gunning down everyone not on their side as well as the foot soldiers moved into mop up any who escaped the heavy metal charge.

From a surveillance satellite, video feed was being fed to Funeral Parlor on the activities of Imperium. "Evil bastards! _Damn_ them! They're opening fire on everyone they see!"

At the heart of all the chaos, Pierre and his men, plus Naruto, had managed to set up a temporary headquarters in a village near Konoha. With that out of the way, Pierre walked over to a station where the older girl from earlier, who had long purple hair and golden eyes and wearing the uniform of Funeral Parlor, was at and asked, "Tsugumi, you got an update on our units?"

Tsugumi looked at the monitor that displayed all their soldiers in giant robots, saying, "They just came online." Shortly thereafter, an icon started flashing in the top right corner of the map on the monitor, causing her to gasp in shock and declare, "Incoming enemy!"

Turning to see an enemy Endlave speeding towards them, they almost missed a friendly Endlave jump down onto a bridge of some sort and crush the enemy underneath it, though Naruto was sent flying backwards from the blast. When he recovered from the blast, he heard a woman's voice yell from the robot, _"Beat it! You're in the way!"_

From a hole in the rubbage that came from the explosion, Pierre appeared, yelling at Naruto, "_Run_, Naruto! And don't you _dare_ let go of that! Treat it better than you did Sakuinori!" With that, he disappeared into the flames on the other side of the rubble.

Naruto, confused by what he was talking about, remembered the item in his pocket… which, for some reason, had moved to his front shirt pocket. It was a vial that had an image of a human genome inside it, but he didn't pay much attention to the image, though he did understand what Pierre meant for him to do.

Standing back up, Naruto saw the friendly Endlave move into the fiery zone, so he took that as his cue to run in the opposite direction. While he ran, he thought to himself, _'Alright… just what exactly does that guy think I can do?!'_

* * *

Inside the friendly cockpit of the Endlave, the pilot asked Tsugumi, _'How many targets?'_

_"__Um… I can't get a count! They just keep coming!"_ Tsugumi answered over the comm frequencies.

_'__Get it together, dammit!'_ the Endlave pilot shot back in irritation.

It was at this time that an enemy Endlave turned the corner, and ran right into the Endlave of the friendly, causing the friendly inside the cockpit to move her hands to her chest from the contact and for her to gasp in pain. Upon getting over the pain, she backed her Endlave up and yelled over the open comms, _"Back it up, pal!"_

With that, she let loose three of her back mounted missiles, having them seek the enemy unit. While the missiles went flying towards the mass-produced unit, the enemy moved backwards, aiming to get away from the missile barrage that was incoming. While the missiles hit stuff, they didn't hit the enemy Endlave, though one of them _did_ knock down Sakuinori's holding cell.

As she was blindfolded and had her hands tied, people thought that she'd be useless in the situation to get out, though… there was the fact that she still held one of her kunai hidden in her clothes she could use, which she used to great effect upon getting up, after having the blindfold knocked loose to show her that she could escape. Still, the fact was, she didn't know where she was after being knocked out of it and blindfolded.

* * *

Coming out from an alleyway, Naruto paused when he saw Sakura walk up a hill of debris that led to being easily targeted by two enemy Endlaves, before he backed up a bit and skidded to a halt. When he decided that it was time to move forward, he rushed towards Sakura, yelling, "Sakuinori!" Jumping over a fence that was easily taller than him, he landed on the other side, before turning towards Sakura - no, _Sakuinori_, it's not Sakura! - and rushing in her direction.

_'__Come on, Naruto! Do something Dad's going to be _proud_ of you for!'_ Naruto thought before he crossed his arms in front of his face, rushing through the smoke in between the two of them with a roar that got her attention. It was while Sakuinori had her eyes on Naruto that an enemy Endlave got within a proper firing angle and prepared to fire a round at her.

With a further roar, Naruto ran up the hill to save Sakuinori, the vial in his pocket humming, as if resonating with his desire to protect people, even when he grabbed hold of her. When he grabbed hold of her with eyes closed, the enemy Endlave fired a round at the two of them, causing the vial to shatter… and for Naruto and Sakuinori's world to go white.

* * *

When Naruto opened his eyes again, it was slowly, to see if he was still alive. When he saw the white area around him, with the crystalline orb surrounding he and Sakuinori, the first thing that came to mind was two-fold; first, he opened his eyes all the way wide. Second, he uttered in deep surprise, "What the hell?"

Suddenly, part of the orb surrounding him turned into crystal wires, wrapping themselves around his right arm in what should have been pain for a lot longer than normal. However, when the pain immediately subsided, he saw that there was a strange stigma on the back of his right hand. "W-what is this?"

"Naruto," Sakuinori said. "Please, Naruto. Don't be scared. You can use me." As Naruto looked at where Sakuinori was, he noticed that there was a red ring of double helixes surrounding her, and a whitish-blue glow above where her growing breasts were.

All of a sudden, a memory surfaced to his mind, starting with Sakuinori holding the Cat's Cradle for him and ending with a different girl holding a Cat's Cradle in front of him, saying, _"Take it this time, Shu. Go ahead."_

Naruto, equally scared for his life and for the lives of his friends, demanded, "Who are you?!"

The voice of Sakuinori floated into his head, saying, _"The power that you're feeling; that is the power of the Guilty Crown, released by the bond between two hearts."_ With that, Naruto's entire life flashed before his eyes, even the life that he never experienced for himself before of Ouma Shu… ending with the sight of a girl, something like a big sister, standing in front of him in a park at wintertime.

* * *

Opening his eyes in the real world, Naruto held out his right hand and moved it towards Sakuinori's chest, feeling supernatural energy flowing through him that wasn't Chakra or Ki when he placed his hand on her chest, holding her up in the air with his left arm. When the hand moved away, a formation of crystal that seemed to be… alive, for lack of a better word… gathered near Naruto's right hand and even encompassing the whole hand and around the arm. When the crystal finished forming around Naruto's right arm, he raised them both into the air, the crystal shattering in an awe-inspiring cloud of diamond dust to reveal an extremely large blade that was nearly twice as long as Naruto was tall, it curved slightly like a saber but was thicker and heavier with a sprawling twisting design that only added to the blades' ethereal beauty. As Naruto drew the blade forth, a bright light rose up towards the clouded heavens and pierced through.

* * *

In Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen was looking for Naruto via his scrying ball, when he suddenly found the boy holding the strange sword in one hand and in a village that was near Konoha. He was half-tempted to go get Naruto right then and there, but the temptation faded when he saw the Endlaves, though he didn't know what they were.

_'__Naruto, I hope you'll get out of that mess alive, for your sake.'_ Hiruzen thought.

* * *

In a separate world, the pair of scientists working for Imperium were looking at the exact same thing Hiruzen saw, only from the monitor of a computer and from the footage of one of the Endlaves. Both were, to say the least, shocked and surprised at the same time.

* * *

Pierre, looking out the window of a tall building, saw that Naruto had activated a power that far surpassed even the Ki Gauntlets. It was a power that was meant to be used by him himself, not a 10 year old kid who shouldn't even be in the battlefield! However, he knew when to cut his losses… and when to start taking advantage of what he had at his disposal.

* * *

Back at the battlefield, Sakuinori was on her knees and unconscious, with Naruto raising his head somewhat. "What's happening?" he asked himself. "What is this?"

One of the two enemy Endlaves moved backwards a ways, then fired its entire arsenal of missiles at Naruto, who instinctively held the sword point forward, edge down, and closed his eyes. Instead of being hit by explosive death, the missiles bypassed the area where Naruto was, even being cut into pieces while going past him… all before the explosive power hit _behind_ the hill! Naruto opened his eyes and spun around to see the damage, then turned cautiously to see in front of him, and that made him gasp.

The same Endlave from before, Unit 322, rushed out at Naruto with its right arm outstretched, the blade in its hand seeking to split the boy in half. Naruto, in turn, roared as he ran towards the Endlave and jumped at it, sword swinging in the air and connecting with the right shoulder socket of the enemy Endlave. When Naruto severed the arm and shoulder from the unit, it exploded, taking out one unit from action.

Naruto, when he landed, started walking with labored breath from the actions he made towards where the remaining Endlave was at. He didn't want to leave the battlefield as it was, so he sought to protect her from what harm would come, regardless.

* * *

Within the Endlave cockpit chamber of the Imperium, one of the staff officers yelled out, "MEDIC! Unit 322 performed an emergency bailout! The Second Lieutenant was injured in the process!"

One of the men overseeing the monitoring station, a man named Andrei Rowan, looked at the screens and asked the thoughts of everyone in the room, "What the… what the hell just happened?"

* * *

Back in the battlefield, Unit 321 charged right at Naruto, shouting at him when it got within range, _"You're not getting away with that!"_ When it reached the firing point, it launched all six of its missiles at Naruto; making him jump away in fear… only he jumped into the air and landed on platforms that came from underneath his feet.

"GET AWAY!" Naruto yelled frantically, slicing some of the missiles with the sword. When the missiles went past Naruto, he positioned his body to face them, in time to see them explode and force him down to the ground… through the fence on the side of the street opposite where he came from.

* * *

_So, everything that makes me whole_

_Ima kimi ni sasageyou_

_I'm yours_

_Nee, kono sekai ni wa takusan no shiawase ga arun da ne_

_Itsuka futari nara_

_Dare ka ga kimi no koto wo usotsuki to yonde_

_Kokoro nai kotoba de kizu tsukeyou to shite mo_

_Sekai ga kimi no koto wo shinjiyou to mo sezu ni_

_Ibara no kanmuri wo kabuseyou to shite mo_

_Watashi wa kimi dake no mikata ni nareru yo_

_Sono kodoku itami wo watashi wa shitte iru_

_So, everything that makes me whole_

_Ima kimi ni sasageyou_

* * *

From a distance aways, Pierre and one of his advisors looked at the carnage caused by Naruto, with the advisor looking through a pair of binoculars. As he continued to look, he said, "Well, now we know what a Void can do."

Pierre, understanding that as a good thing, put his right hand to his ear and said, "Ogumo, go."

* * *

"Roger that, Commander. Over," Ogumo said to Pierre, hearing Unit 321 move right past his location.

* * *

As Naruto got up from the debris he made, he saw Unit 321 rush him, left arm extended towards him this time.

* * *

Ogumo pressed a series of buttons in a row on the handheld computer screen, pressed a button to explain what the buttons mean, and then pressed the 'Initiate' button.

* * *

As the apartment building nearby started to explode, Unit 321 paused to see what the mess was all about, only to realize too late that it fell for a trap. The reason why it realized too late was that there were explosives hidden under the road where the Endlave was at, destroying part of the road and trapping it in a hole that was big enough to fit it, and then getting a huge part of a building to fall on top of the unit.

As the cameras tried to pick up any enemies, there was one that ran towards it, and, with a jumping stab, Unit 321 knew no more.

* * *

Naruto, after finishing off Unit 321, looked in Sakuinori's direction and found… "Sakuinori?"

In short, he found her on the ground, lying on her side. Stabbing the sword into the ground, he rushed over to her, yelling, "Sakuinori!" When he got to her, he picked her up from the ground, yelling "Wake up!"

It was at this time that the sword started to disintegrate and move into something that could easily transfer itself into Sakuinori, likely her very essence. Upon seeing it go into her, Naruto questioned, "What was that…?"

At this time, a second robot like Funell showed up, only it was properly furnished. When it stopped a couple meters away from Naruto and Sakuinori, it opened up its speaking ability, transmitting a message from a fair distance away, saying, _"Uzumaki Naruto."_ Getting Naruto's attention, Pierre's voice continued, _"You've got fifteen seconds. Grab Sakuinori and get out of there."_

All Naruto could say was, "Wait, what?"

* * *

In the streets of the nearby village, the friendly Endlave, having taken a beating during the battle, was roaming to make sure that all targets were destroyed, especially as its pilot asked, _'Tsugumi, where's the next target?!'_

* * *

In a central terminal for Funeral Parlor's mobile weapons, Tsugumi was able to reply to that question, saying cheerfully, "Direction, 10 o'clock! Distance of 400!"

_"_That_ far off?! There's nothing closer?!"_ the pilot questioned over the radio, shock apparent in her voice.

"Why don't you just call it a day?" Tsugumi asked cheerfully as she played a form of Bejewelled on the monitor that she was in front of at the time. "Don't overexert yourself, Aya," she continued, grabbing what was left of the game, which had turned into a ball of data, and throwing it behind her, into a hoop that started moving towards her when the ball entered. "Your poor craft can barely take anymore!" When she felt the hoop touch her butt, she sported a cheshire grin and bumped it back, getting a form of satisfaction out of that.

* * *

In the Funeral Parlor cockpit, Ayase answered Tsugumi's request by saying, _'It's not my job to give up… not when so many people need us at this time!'_

It was at this time that a klaxon alerted her to a new enemy.

* * *

Within the cockpit of the new model enemy Endlave, a blond haired man with a look of sadistic glee on his face urged his unit to charge the one he was facing, thinking, _'Well… look at _this_ stocky little bastard! Talk about perfect timing!'_ With that thought, the enemy drew his beam energy machine gun and started opening fire on Ayase, making things extra difficult for her to stay alive.

* * *

Ayase thought, as she attempted to dodge while she opened fire with her kinetic machine gun, _'He's fast!'_ Unfortunately for Ayase, though, the enemy Endlave eventually hit as close to dead center as permissible on her unit… causing her to feel the pain of being shot at, while her machine was being trashed in the matter of seconds, all before the enemy ran out of rounds for his machine gun's energy. Tossing the gun away, the enemy continued forward with a blade eventually extending forward, making its way closer to Ayase's unit.

* * *

Fortunately, as it turned out, Tsugumi was well aware of what was going on. When she saw the feed of the enemy Endlave about to kill her friend in the battlefield, she gasped in horror and immediately did something to stop it, yelling in the process, "Bailing you out!" With that, she slammed her left palm on the large "Bail Out" button and bailed Ayase out of the mess that she was in.

* * *

Moments after Ayase was force bailed out of her Endlave, the enemy unit ran its blade through the torso of her old unit, effectively destroying it. However, as the enemy was expecting the pilot to still be connected….

_"__Hmm? Where are all the accompanying screams?"_ He asked nobody in particular, before groaning in disappointment and forcing Ayase's Endlave off his blade and onto a wagon that was, thankfully, quite empty and horseless. _"What a buzzkill."_

* * *

In the forward operation center of Imperium's invasion force, the officer that had taken Sakuinori prisoner and had ordered the destruction of the Land of Fire shouted out at the computer communication's screen, "_Impossible!_ There's no way! How can a foot soldier _do_ this?!"

Andrei, who was the one speaking with the Major, said as images were shown of the battlefield, _"I don't know. The battle footage is too distorted to tell for certain, but that's the way it looks."_

The Major, visibly upset that the information given was supposed to be impossible, cried out, "A hand held anti-Endlave weapon?! _Damn it!_" As he cried that out, he turned and kicked the swivel chair to his left with the bottom of his foot, before continuing, "I can't report _that_!"

It was at that time when the mechanical door opened, and the Endlave pilot from earlier said, "Second Lieutenant Daryl Yan here, and I've honestly heard worse."

The Major, surprised to hear that statement, turned to look at the now identified Daryl Yan and demanded, "_What_ worse are you _talking_ about, Lieutenant Yan?!"

Daryl, aware of the situation that he got himself in, walked forward from the door and answered calmly, "You should know that there are some sectors that have access to better equipment than we do, given that we weren't there to prevent technological growth from going too fast. One such sector had, as supposedly 'ancient' relics, a hand held anti-_World_ weapon and a spaceship in the possession of a lunatic that could make my predecessor want to take lessons from him. Of course, Daryl Yan I was not the most _mentally_ stable of people, so that explains that much. Then again, I might have picked up some of his mannerisms by accident, but nothing severe enough to warrant psychiatric help yet."

"Uh—" the Major attempted to speak up at that time, only for Daryl to continue right over his dialogue attempt.

"Oh, on the topic of what worse I've heard, I've actually _seen_ a massive Gamma ray cannon that was about to fire at the planet it orbited. It was a good thing the cannon was obliterated, otherwise, all life in that particular sector would have been destroyed, as there were people that relied on the planet for food and other necessities, and the people still needed to learn how to cooperate. They were divided by genetics, but, well, as that's not important now, I'll say we need to get on track. I'm here on orders from my father, the Major General in charge of External Affairs, to tell you to pull out of this part of the sector and focus on the area north of here."

"_What?!_ Why are we being forced out of the sector?!" the Major demanded of Daryl.

With a sigh, Daryl replied, "I said this _part_ of the sector, _not_ the sector as a whole, Major Guin. Learn to listen better." After a bit of pause, he continued, "There's a country surrounded by water up north that we just got word is currently experiencing a major civil war. My orders are to make sure you and your men get over there and help stabilize the area for Imperium takeover."

"Is that… so?" Major Guin asked, clearly unsure of what he had heard at that particular moment. After a bit of contemplation, he said, "Well, at least let us finish the operation that we were in the middle of here, to retrieve a genetic weapon of immense power… Lieutenant Yan."

It was a few seconds later when Daryl lowered his head, saying with narrowed eyes, "You _have_ to be kidding me. I thought you already completed that mission. What are you, _stupid?!_ Or just an idiot?"

Major Guin's eyes twitched a bit, not enough to be dangerous, but enough to make Daryl realize he was walking on super thin ice.

"Still, I'll let this slide, even though I'm technically babysitting your sorry asses right now," Daryl continued, before turning around to head out the door. "Oh, and if you fail the mission and _live_, I'll have to report your fatass to my father!" With that, he left completely.

When Guin fully registered what had happened, his right hand moved up and tightened into a fist, veins popping up in his bald head. With the source of the irritation gone, he finally snapped and yelled, "That little shit!" Turning to face the rest of his command crew, even Andrei, he ordered, "Expand the search perimeter! Apprehend and question everyone you see! Women, children, _everyone!_"

* * *

As an Endlave passed beneath them, a pair of ANBU dropped several explosive notes onto the mecha. As it passed by to a safe distance, they channeled a little chakra and watched the Endlave's head disappear in a fiery explosion. Breached sections resulted in additional blasts and the Endlave fell to the ground an exploding mess.

"At least we can fight back," one of the two remarked with a hidden smile.

"Indeed," the other agreed and then stiffened, "JUMP!" and the two leaped clear as another Endlave tore their hiding place to pieces with automatic gunfire and then moved to pursue only for a mighty force to break it in two.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Gai shouted as he landed between two more on a strung wire.

The two Endlaves turned and opened fire only for Gai to jump clear and watch the two shoot each other. He landed, hard, on the head of another Endlave, crushing it in before leaping off as the mech exploded. Flipping through the air he performed a heel drop on another, actually cutting through the armor from neck to crotch and then jumping off again as that Endlave exploded.

The two ANBU could only stare at one another. It had taken them close to two hours to successfully ambush one enemy. Gai charged in head first and destroyed several. Weren't they supposed to be the village elite?

"OVER THERE!" an enemy foot soldier shouted just before a kunai entered his throat and severed the spine in his neck.

"This will be easier," the first one stated as they looked over the forty armed invaders trying to surround them.

The second ANBU shook his head, "Foolish idiots," as both vanished as streaks of lights to the unprepared foot soldiers.

* * *

But not all were so lucky. A team of Chuunin lay dead at their rally point. All around lay others from Genin to Jounin in rank. A lone ANBU coughed up blood, trying to get back on his feet. A single gunshot ended his long and notable service record once and for all.

"Bravo 8 here, all enemy resistance neutralized," an officer reported as his men moved on.

_"__Copy that Bravo 8. Excellent work. Be advised, you have new orders: Capture local civilians and hold them prisoner, kill if need be to insure compliance, but take prisoners as a priority."_

"Roger Bravo Actual, moving out."

* * *

When Naruto made it where Pierre guided him to be, he placed Sakuinori safely in a sitting position on some stairs on top of a building, before getting in front of Pierre and bending forward, out of breath, and with so many things racing through his mind. He couldn't voice any of his thoughts, but he didn't need to, because Pierre received a video phone call at that point. Upon activating his phone, he saw Ayase, now sitting in a wheelchair, looking down and fearful at the same time, before she said, _"Reporting in as ordered, Pierre."_

Pierre, getting straight to the point, asked, "Ayase, what's your status?"

* * *

Ayase, inside the command center for Funeral Parlor's mobile weapons, reported to Pierre, "I lost my vessel… and I apologize. It was completely my fault."

Pierre, letting that sink in for a short bit, said, _"I see. And I _am_ disappointed."_

Ayase shot her head up in shock and surprise, not expecting the answer from her superior.

Pierre continued, _"Your mission was to stand your ground for eighteen minutes in an older model Endlave, and you roasted that task. But here you are, claiming that your mission was an utter failure. It sounds to me like I failed you as your commander."_

Ayase, panicking and flustered, waved her hands in front of her and exclaimed, "No, no! I failed _you_! I'm the failure here, _not_ you!"

_"__I'm joking,"_ Pierre said, making Ayase regain her composure some, and for a blush to start forming on her face. _"I'm glad you made it back alright. You did well."_ With that, the connection got cut, leaving Ayase and Tsugumi, who had walked into the area of the room with the communication's device, on their own.

Ayase, starting to get the full blush to show up, looked positively elated at hearing the praise from the one that she saw as her future husband—

"I can hear your heart fluttering from clear across the room, Aya," Tsugumi said, with a cat-like tone.

"_SHUT UP_, Tsugumi!"

* * *

Naruto, getting up from his previous position of panting, walked closer to Pierre and attempted to ask, "So, uh… should I…?"

Pierre, who was looking at Sakuinori, suddenly said, "You're finally awake."

Naruto, looking to his right, became elated when he saw Sakuinori standing up on her feet, enough to cry out, "Sakuinori!"

Sakuinori, after walking a bit towards Pierre, asked, "Pierre… did I… accomplish the mission?"

Pierre, showing some visible disapproval towards Sakuinori, said in a cold tone, "No, and I'm very disappointed in you… Sakuinori."

Sakuinori, upon hearing that, looked down in an ashamed way. She honestly wanted to accomplish the mission the way she was told to do so, but her luck was dry this time, as it turned out. As such, she could understand why Pierre was mad at her. Scratch that, he would be yelling if he was mad. It was worse… he was very disappointed.

Instinct came to Naruto in that moment. Though that's probably what he would claim. He knew he had screwed up himself. So he would come to her defense this time.

"Hey!" he shouted at Pierre, drawing attention to himself. "It wasn't her fault. She tried as hard as she could for you. So don't you think you're being a little harsh on her?"

"What business is it of yours?" Pierre was looking down his nose at Naruto and Naruto _hated _that!

"Sakura is a citizen of Konoha!" Naruto yelled back at Pierre, temper flaring. His bright blue eyes hardening like steel to glare into the stalwart ebon eyes of Pierre. "She was even hurt on her mission for you," Naruto ground out, looking less the fox and more the angry tiger.

"I know that," Pierre responded calmly. "BUT! Results are everything."

"Bullshit!" Naruto retorted catching Pierre off guard. "That's just an excuse. Yes, results do matter, but things still happen and as long as you learn and survive, the results don't mean a thing as long as the mission is successfully completed in the right spirit!"

Pierre gazed at Naruto. Naruto stood his ground. Pierre knew that Leaf Ninja had a history of concerning themselves with more than just a result. Their best ninja didn't get results. They got the job done right. Regardless of how the mission started, they would often see it to the end, completing the mission often in a spiritual way that created change.

Exactly how the Shodaime Hokage wanted the village to be.

"Perhaps that's why you're so strong to face your enemies, but not the Imperium," Pierre conceded.

Naruto only growled.

"But in this case, the mission was a total failure," Pierre continued as he shifted his stance and closed his eyes. "Because she made the decision to share the Void Genome with you when it was _supposed _to _go _to _me_," Pierre looked Naruto again in the eyes, "Someone who knows what that power is."

"Void Genome?" Naruto questioned and the look of curiosity was on his face.

"The cylinder she gave you was only one of ten enhanced genomes to be successfully cultivated by the Imperium's Sephira Genomics Laboratories," Pierre began to explain to Naruto. "They were created to harness what they call the 'King's Power.'"

"The King's… Power?" Naruto knew that couldn't be good. "What's that?"

"A way to analyze the Intron Sequences in the human genome and extract the power within them thus creating Voids," Pierre was prepared to go on but Naruto held up his hand with his eyes closed giving him the appearance of a fox, "Yes?"

"Can you keep it simple?" Naruto inquired to Pierre who blinked owlishly, "I didn't do well in Biology Class."

"Oh…." With that, Pierre looked away embarrassed for about five seconds, before he regained his composure quickly. With that, he said, "In short, a way to use what is known as Voids."

Naruto, feeling that he had to ask, inquired, "What's a Void?"

"An idea given corporeal form," Pierre said and at Naruto's blank look, elaborated. "It is the Crystallized form of something important to that person, a hidden ability that not even they are fully aware of," Naruto nodded and honestly, Pierre was a little worried. "That's what the sword you used was. That was Sakuinori's Void, the Singer's Sword. Every person contains their own unique version. Void technology has one foot firmly planted in the realm of the gods, and you just obtained its crowning achievement, which means you no longer have the option of sitting on the sidelines and turning a blind eye to the desperate lives of those in need. From now on, you fight with us."

Naruto, incredulous at the statement, especially the part about turning a blind eye, just _really _set him off like unstable explosives as he shouted, "I _what_?! Wait!"

Pierre, moving forward to push the issue forward, grabbed Naruto by the coat of his track suit and lifted him up from the ground. "Remember _this_, Uzumaki Naruto! There are only two paths left in this lifetime. You can be selected out of this world, or you can adapt and make a change!" With that, he pushed Naruto to the ground, knocking him on his back.

Suddenly, Pierre's phone rang and it was Tsugumi. From the sounds of it… well, she was panicked.

* * *

"COMMAND! RESPOND?!" a foot soldier shouted before he was killed by flying debris as the Endlave that was caught in a claw like weapon exploded after the internal working boiled and the metal warped.

"Is it done?" a voice asked the claw from the shadows.

_"__For here."_

"Then we depart… for now."

Smoke billowed as the wind blew through to reveal the bloody remains of soldiers and the wrecks of Endlaves and vehicles. The battalion that had been assigned to invade this position was now a memory, good or bad, who could say. The only thing that mattered was that it was destroyed and gone from the Imperium's Order of Battle Tables. And with it… its mission objective was unfulfilled.

* * *

"So you're saying that someone else attacked the Imperium?" Pierre looked thoughtful as he tried to analyze the information.

_"__Yes," _Tsugumi stated once she calmed down. _"Getting some kind of radiation reading from an unknown gate opening up, but I hesitate to call it true radiation. Might have been the enemy objective to release a Radiological Bomb and they got jumped,"_ she paused,_ "It wouldn't be the first time the Imperium turned a beautiful place into a toxic soup either."_

Pierre could only grunt an affirmative. But he wondered who had the power short of a Kage-class ninja or someone with some serious firepower.

* * *

"FIRE!" the order was shouted as Endlaves fought a pitched battle with a section of Funeral Parlour who were equipped with anti-mecha wired guided missiles.

Several missiles streaked out and dodged defensive fire, coming in at all angles. The Endlaves had little chance. Two were hit right in the head, a third was blown in two, three more were hit by several missiles each and exploded into debris, and another lost an arm and a leg.

Their enemy could now be seen moving among some of the low walls and sunken ditches. Clad in black uniforms with gray trim, they didn't look like the normally motley colored Funeral Parlour. Their headgear also was different, consisting of gray faceplates attached to black helmets. They also moved more as a professional army rather than a resistance cell.

Then one man popped up and lit off a shoulder mounted LAW-class rocket launcher. He ducked back down, but in the time he had been up, he was visible in a light tan and brown battle dress with blue color markers. He also had been wearing full web gear, a helmet with a golden emblem, and a ruck pack on his back.

His aim was true as a support vehicle was hit and exploded. The company commander was in that vehicle. Now his company was decapitated as snipers picked off officers in the open.

Then the shooting stopped from the attackers.

_"What's happening?"_ an Endlave pilot asked unnerved immediately as the firing had stopped.

He got his answer as the ground beneath the support vehicle he was in exploded, along with the rest of the area his whole company had been in.

The blast was heard and felt several tens of miles in all directions.

* * *

"Are you sure that a separate army attacked the Imperium forces just now, Tsugumi?" Pierre asked her at that moment.

_"__Positive, Commander! I can't track where they came from, or how they got here, but it seems like they decided to go straight for the source of the chaos in this land!"_ Tsugumi couldn't help but exclaim that.

"Alright, I'll look into it," Pierre said. With that, he turned off the phone… only for another message to pop up. When he answered that one, he said, "What is it?"

_"__Things have taken a turn for the worse,"_ one of the other soldiers of Funeral Parlor said to him from a rooftop elsewhere.

* * *

Over with said soldier, Argo, he saw the positions where Imperium's soldiers were holding a strongpoint on, reporting back to Pierre, "The damn Jurgand Agents have quarantined the underground lot in Area 14."

_"__The underground lot?"_

"Yeah. Word got out that it was a safe spot. There were nearly 300 people hiding in there when they raided. And that new model Endlave that took down Ayase belongs to Kill'em All Daryl," Argo finished reporting to Pierre.

_"__Great… Tsugumi's brother. I have no intention of killing him, especially when he's the only person she considers family left,"_ Pierre said.

* * *

_"__Yeah. You might want to factor him in as a no-kill soon,"_ Argo stated.

"Things could get tricky, then." Pierre then said, "Daryl… so the Kaleidoscope's in play. Hmm…." Pierre was in thought and then he chuckled a little with his mind made up. "Then let us begin our dirge for those selected out and for those who will be soon selected out."

* * *

Stepping out of the portal to be inside the hidden Funeral Parlor base, Naruto took a look around the base complex. It was a lot different from Konoha's military command center with dark colors as opposed to the colors of wood. It was also more technologically advanced as he noticed Sakuinori and Pierre leaving the room they were in. Naruto hurried to follow, but noticed the guards standing in the room eyeing him carefully. As he walked through their 'Tokyo Base' and wherever that was, Naruto found himself and Sakuinori were actually being escorted by Pierre as they entered a new room and Naruto noted that they took the whole Funeral part of their name seriously, black and dark red being the primary colors. As Pierre stepped down to the lower floors, the advisor from earlier, Shibungi, looked towards him and said, "It's bad. The situation is untenable. There's too much of a disparity between our forces, even with the other factions fighting Imperium. A rescue mission is simply too dangerous, even with local aid. I recommend we pull out."

Pierre, upon hearing the words of his advisor, took only a moment to think about it before he said, "No. We're not backing down. No way! This is an opportunity! This is providence! Attention all members! As of now, we move out to wipe out the Jurgand, and rescue the residents of the Fort! Furthermore, we're going public! This will not be a covert operation! As of this moment, the Funeral Parlor will make itself known the Multiverse over!" With a hand stretching forward, he finished with, "So, go, and give it everything you've got!"

With that, the members of Funeral Parlor started cheering for the fact that they're going to save many innocent civilians from Imperium.

* * *

Argo, who wasn't in the meeting room at the time, was still able to listen in on the speech. As soon as he heard Pierre's words, he declared, "About time!"

Though hidden not far from him, another figure smirked under its cover as it relayed the report.

* * *

With Shibungi, he turned to face Pierre and said, "So much for caution. I guess I'd better get a script prepared. Although, are you sure this isn't too soon?"

Pierre, turning to face Naruto, said, "Depends on his answer."

* * *

Naruto felt his blood boil at the look Pierre was sending him. Of course he would help! He was a ninja dammit!

Well… a ninja cadet, Naruto would admit, but he was also the son of two Hokage. He could not and would not allow the Imperium to get away with its ambitions. They were invading his home, killing his people, and clearly had done so to others. They would be made to pay for all the lives lost and destroyed.

But, at the same time, they were using one of the oldest tricks in the book. They had taken hostages to lure out some of those enemies. They would succeed in luring them out. But they overlooked that Naruto would be part of the operation.

When it came to hostages, Konoha ninja had an excellent rescue record and Naruto was now chomping at the bit to prove why.

* * *

"Maintain your surveillance and if need be, conduct operations in accordance with how the situation develops."

_"__Copy Command, Opera 2-1 out."_

The silence that reigned in the darkened command room was thunderous. The leader stood, observing the Imperium invasion of yet another world. This time though… they were having a tough battle since they were up against someone who could literally bring down mountains and drain oceans if they so desired.

That wasn't to say they would be victorious. No one was ever that lucky. Fortunately, between Funeral Parlor's appearance and their clandestine attacks, the Imperium was off balance. They had ended up breaking their lance on the enemy's shield and become disorganized in their attacks. But that was a temporary matter at most.

It would soon be very different, but they would have to be more prepared and he knew that the Federation was planning a major counteroffensive.

It only needed more time to prepare.

Time bought with lives and blood.

Soft hands gently rested on his shoulders as he felt a head and a woman's chest against his back. He picked up one of his hands and patted one of hers. He knew it would be alright. For he could sense it now. Someone with a burning light of hope for a heart was refusing to simply lie down and take it.

And when darkness is at its peak… the light shines brightest.

* * *

When Naruto and Sakuinori made it back to the Konoha sector, they found their way to where they could infiltrate the lines of soldiers without being seen, namely by means of the air ducts that went underground. As Sakuinori went down first, Naruto decided to follow from behind, even though he later regretted that action… especially since he had to avert his eyes when moving forward. As they moved near an opening near the place where the refugees were at, Naruto almost missed a bit of cruelty that came from a Jurgand agent assaulting a captured member of Funeral Parlor.

The Jurgand agent roared at the Funeral Parlor, while holding a pistol in hand, "Tell me who your leader is! Go on! Spill your guts, or I will! TELL ME!"

_"__The Supernatural Hunting and Obliteration Police, commonly known as Jurgand. They've been granted the unilateral authority to hunt down those they know can pose a threat to their plans, and then exterminate them 'for the safety of the human population'. Really, though, they just want to keep humans in the dark about the potential for the supernatural, and annihilate the threats to human ignorance that they orchestrated."_

At the sight of an execution ground, there was a group of five civilian men, blindfolded, tied up and duct-taped at their mouths. One of the men, whose wife and son were being forced back by one of the agents, heard his wife call out, "Please don't do this! My husband hasn't done anything wrong!"

The son tugged at his mother's coat and said, "I need to go, momma."

Turning to her son, she said, "Wait just a little longer, Rio." Turning back to the Jurgand Agent, she said further, "Please, I promise you, he hasn't come in contact with the Supernatural! Let him go!"

Daryl, having come out of where he was, shook his head. Perhaps previously, he would have not have cared, but he cared now… well, still not much to do anything. To him that's just how things went. Besides, this was the Jurgand's show. Not like he could do much about it. So why bother?

"Officer!" a woman suddenly grabbed his hands desperately. "Please! My husband hasn't come into contact with anything Supernatural, please, let him go!" Looking at her hands desperately clutching his, her dirty hands clutching his clean hands, something flipped.

"LET GO YOU STUPID WOMAN!" he punched her full in the face with his free hand. "How _dare _you touch me with those dirty hands of yours! What if I was to get tainted by something?" he continued to shout and berate her even as he began to kick her downed form. It wasn't well known, but Kill'em All Daryl was afflicted with a phobia about germs. As such, the dirt and grime on the mother's hands had set him off explosively. Once she was down and bleeding from all the damage he had inflicted, Daryl drew his sidearm and aimed it at her head, "Now you're going to die for that insolence!"

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

"The hell?!" Daryl looked around to see a mass of identical blondes in orange track suits in utter confusion, but he wasn't the only one either.

All of the Imperium troops looked around in confusion, as well as the local civilians. This kid was using a foreign jutsu in their town! On top of that, he was so brightly dressed, he could only be a Leaf Ninja. But his actions had the anticipated effect of drawing attention away from the mother and bound men.

"Okay you assholes!" Naruto shouted down to the mess of Imperium agents, "This ain't your home so don't even think you can do as you please, Dattebayo!"

"An Uzumaki!" someone gasped in surprise.

"An Uzumaki here?!" another person declared in shock.

"He must be a son of the current Hokage!" a third person stated in surprise at Naruto being there.

"Who do you think you are?!" Daryl shouted back up at the blonde, whichever one was real. The majority had appeared in puffs of smoke. There had to be close to two or three hundred of them. About roughly equal to half their own force size.

"You need to clean out yer ears!" Naruto shouted back, another one from another angle before another picked up.

"We are the Great Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Future Hokage, dattebayo!" another Naruto shouted.

"And the guy who is about to kick your ass!" a fourth shouted, causing Daryl to turn to that one as well.

"Let's go!" a fifth - no, the first one! - shouted to his comrades and all the Narutos went on the offensive, quickly overpowering the guards both above and below ground.

* * *

With Tsugumi, she saw the video feed of Naruto kicking the ever loving crap out of the Jurgand Agents (somehow not including her brother), and called out, "Pierre! Naruto's acting away from the orders!"

Pierre looked to her and questioned, "Is Alpha Team in position now?"

Surprised by the sudden question, Tsugumi checked and then said, "U-uh, yes! Alpha Team's in position!"

With a nod, Pierre ordered, "Launch the operation!"

With that, missiles started launching from a rooftop in town a fair distance away, headed for Imperium's mobile base of operations.

* * *

In said mobile base of operations, one of Major Guin's adjutants detected the missiles headed their way and yelled, "Incoming missiles!"

"Well, _intercept_ them!" another adjutant ordered the first one.

Major Guin commented coldly, "So they're making a move."

* * *

As beams were fired at the missiles, Guin's voice could be heard yelling, "I want them _dead_ or _alive_!" As soon as the missiles that didn't explode from being cut by the beams hit the ground, massive explosions hit the area surrounding the Jurgand encampment and creating a crescent shape to keep them locked into a position that favored Funeral Parlor… not that Guin knew that, honestly.

* * *

Daryl, having seen the missiles launch towards his current superior's encampment, rushed towards the Endlave Cockpit for his unit (while avoiding being hurt by the Uzumaki Naruto clones). While his face didn't show it, he thought, _'Not good! I have to avoid killing as much as possible, otherwise I'll go into _Kill'em All_ mode! I don't _want_ to go into Kill'em All mode, especially since that was my _predecessor's_ famous part!'_

Still, he made it to his cockpit, helmet on to ensure proper interfacing was in place. As soon as he immersed himself into the Endlave, he began to make a move against Funeral Parlor, leading the other Endlaves that weren't prioritized to stay at the headquarters on the chase towards the enemy.

* * *

As Naruto sat still in cover with Sakuinori, he thought of the plan that Pierre laid out to him. It was a simple plan really. So much, that he wondered how many people would have bothered to notice it?

The first part would be Alpha Team's missile bombardment. The missiles that would land on the edges of the Jurgand encampment would be the main focus. To ensure that they broke through the automated laser defense systems, something he was still wrapping the technology around his head, the appearance of the missiles aimed at the enemy's central positions made sure the LDS would turn and engage them first. As a result, the true missile strike was right on target and using the terrain, the explosions and fire had the effect in trapping the Jurgand company in all but one direction and that one opening was the direction all their attention was naturally diverted to, especially now that his clones were running amok on the edge of their perimeter.

Then Bravo Team, using vehicles brought from the Funeral Parlor's own dimension would run out, firing a few shots and begin to draw off the main body of the Endlaves. Naturally, they would need to cause some damage, but Naruto's clones were now helping with that. In fact, the Endlaves were already tearing apart large groups of his clones as they pursued the vehicle convoy which began to break up in order to draw the Endlaves further off.

After that, Charlie Team, using Active Camo Cloaks would sneak in and take out the remaining perimeter guards allowing Funeral Parlor to move its color coded assault teams in to utterly surround the Jurgand camp along with support from Ayase controlling some mini Endlaves equipped with missile launchers and miniguns.

Speaking of which….

* * *

Tsugumi's voice was heard on the Funeral Parlor comms, saying, _"Checkpoints Red, Blue, and Yellow now secured! Distance to final point: Seven! Alright, you better take care of my babies, Aya."_

_"__You got it!"_ Ayase called out over the comms as Tsugumi put the mini Endlaves online.

* * *

With Bravo Team, apparently Daryl's Endlave managed to catch up to one of the Jeeps, being driven by Argo. While Daryl was doing his best to stay away from Kill'em All mode, he was stuck in the mindset of Kill'em All Daryl, meaning he would shoot to kill at the first chance. As a matter of fact, when having his Endlave jump from one street to the street Argo was driving down….

_"__Hahahahahaha! You're about to get _stomped_ on, little buggy!"_ Daryl exclaimed in sadistic glee over the airwaves.

In response, Argo made a sharp turn to the left on a different road, with Daryl's Endlave making the same turn shortly after in order to catch up to the Jeep driving man.

_"__The target has reached D-line!"_ Tsugumi's voice came through the comm frequencies.

Daryl, who was about to get a targeting lock on Argo's Jeep, suddenly asked over open channels, _"Wait, Tsugumi?!"_

* * *

Pierre suddenly opened his eyes and ordered, "NOW!"

With that, the missile launchers, which were hiding in all the surrounding buildings, showed the red lights that signified missiles were locked onto the targets.

* * *

Within Daryl's cockpit, he was about to figure out where Tsugumi went when he suddenly was given an order override, _"A-abort! Abort the attack!"_

Daryl, confused by the sudden order override, stopped his Endlave while questioning, _"What?!"_

* * *

_As it turned out…._

"Multiple missiles locked onto your bay and there's too many for us to shield!" one of Guin's adjutants relayed to Daryl and the rest of the pilots, before his superior clenched his fist in sheer hate filled anger.

Before long, a voice popped up on the comm channels, belonging to Shibungi, saying, _"A friendly word of advice to Major Guin, commander of Imperium's Jurgand Task Force 2."_

Another adjutant put his right hand over his right ear and said, "He's on an open channel."

Without missing a beat, Shibungi said, _"We are the Funeral Parlor. Release your hostages and surrender. If you comply, we will allow you to live."_

As Shibungi said his piece, the majority of the command vehicle sat in their seats in shock, unsure how to best react to the words of someone that had them at gunpoint (metaphorically). In fact, it was so bad, only Guin was unaffected by the terms of surrender. The adjutant who noticed the missiles being locked onto the "bay" turned to face Guin and asked, "What do we do? How do we respond?"

Facing the adjutant, Guin said, "_We're_ holding the trump card in _this_ game." Picking up a piece of equipment meant to broadcast messages over the airwaves; he activated it and said, "Attention, _terrorists_!"

* * *

_"__We will _never_ agree to the demands of terrorism,"_ Guin's voice echoed from the loud speakers, as a pair of poles extended from the command vehicle. Upon reaching the max length, the poles started to display an image between them, as Guin continued, _"If you don't _immediately_ withdraw your forces, we'll set off the gas that we planted underground!"_ As if to drive his point home, the Underground Lot was shown with a pair of giant gas canisters between where the civilians were being held at, both with the image of poisonous materials being used in the interior of the canisters.

With that, some of the Endlaves returned to the base, while Guin said, _"Show yourselves, and we'll refrain from doing so! We want to meet your leader. Bring us the head caretaker of your little parlor!"_ As soon as the last words were said, Guin confidently turned off the loud speakers and stepped outside the vehicle, staying a couple steps within the doorway.

Within moments of leaving the safety of his command vehicle, Guin heard a voice from above and about a hundred meters ahead say, "_I'm_ the one in charge!"

With that, Pierre revealed himself the same way he showed himself to Naruto, stepping up from a busted raised roadway and showing his face to Guin and the Jurgand agents in the area. As he stepped up, the Endlaves and ground soldiers took notice and aimed their guns at him, while the Funeral Parlor soldiers and Naruto waited with baited breath as Pierre decided to work a miracle for them.

Guin, deciding to take the first stab at dialogue, said, "That's kind of a sinister name you've chosen for yourselves!"

Pierre, as if following a divine script, answered, "The world offers up the choice to live or die! Survival of the fittest; that's the only governing law any world recognizes! As a result, we'll always offer funeral songs to those that have been selected out! Hence the moniker! It signifies that we'll always be the ones singing, and that we'll always be the ones to survive!"

Guin looked at Pierre in anger at being told that, before shooting back, "You don't quite understand the position you're in! _We've_ got the power to decide the selection process here! Now, you've taken something of ours; a dangerous genetic weapon! We'd like it back!"

Pierre smugly looked back at Guin and replied, "Sorry, this is the first time hearing about it!"

The laser cannons from the LDS were suddenly aimed at Pierre, with Guin saying, "You've got until the count of ten! Give it up, or we'll wipe any trace of you from existence!"

* * *

Sakuinori, after noting the timing of Pierre's plan, said to the real Naruto, "Right on schedule."

Naruto, upon hearing that, said, "I got to admit, it's crazy. Everything's happening the way that he said it would." In his thoughts, he said, _'But I shouldn't be surprised, given dad's reputation. Now is my chance to start my own.'_ Naruto then noticed his hands shaking slightly. He wasn't surprised. His mother always told him there would always be some nervousness. With experience it would pass, but here he was, inexperienced for the first time in his life, it wasn't training anymore. This was a real battle.

_'__Doesn't matter,'_ he thought as he began to clench and unclench his hands. _'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are _worse_ than trash. This mission will _not_ be a failure. No matter what, I will succeed and make you proud dad, as a Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf.'_

Whether Sakuinori heard his thoughts or not was up for debate, but she did grab both his hands to calm him down, saying to placate his anxiety, "Believe, Naruto. You can do it. You can. I know you can." With that, she used both her hands to guide his right hand to where her heart was, saying, "Because I belong to you, now."

With that, Naruto's newfound power activated.

* * *

"Ten!"

Guin counted down the time until he would carry out his threat, holding a device that would allow him to manually shoot the LDS at Pierre.

"Nine!"

Naruto moved with stealthy speed of a ninja to reach Daryl's cockpit, jumping on a wagon to get some extra distance, before he began his slicing of the mobile support bay.

"Eight! Seven!"

Daryl was startled when the intruder alert system suddenly activated, removing him from his Endlav, but he only had enough time to open his eyes before Naruto shoved his hand through Daryl's body where the heart is located.

"Six! Five! Four!"

Naruto ran to the location where he would set up. It was only a few meters away from the mobile headquarters, but it might as well been kilometers. He slid quietly into place shouldering the Void's main body on his shoulder, then taking aim, activating what looks like a series of small mirrors centered around a generator aimed at the Jurgand agents.

"Three! Two!"

"Initiating Kaleidoscope!" Naruto shouted up to Pierre while pressing the trigger, activating the generator and getting some humming noises from the kaleidoscopic device.

"One! Time's UP!" Guin yelled with sadistic pleasure, pressing the firing button of the LDS.

The LDS fired its laser beams at Pierre, unafraid of what was going to come… especially as the beams almost hit him.

Keyword being "almost".

Right when the beams were to converge on his location, they gathered in one spot right in front of him and then shot right back the way they came, surprising Guin and everyone else in the vehicle… even as the beams bounced all around the area and hit everything in their path.

Guin didn't even know he was supposed to cry out in terror before the explosion hit.

* * *

Shortly after the rescue operation succeeded, Naruto was approached by Pierre, who said, "You did well. You moved past your fear to do the right thing and help those in need. No small feat and you should be proud." Extending his hand to Naruto, Pierre then said, "Join us, Naruto. We can use your ability. You know that you can make a difference if you come with us."

Naruto then looked at Pierre's hand and moved his own hand to take hold of it….

* * *

_The next day…._

On television screens all around the Land of Fire, Pierre's voice came out of the sets, with depictions of what had happened the day before, saying, _"We'll always offer funeral songs for those who have been selected out of this life; hence the name of our group. We refuse to let Imperium act like they rule the whole of reality, and we refuse to let them enslave the populations of all reality! We have declared war on Imperium, and we won't allow them to select us out, nor the different races of sentience!"_

* * *

In the Konoha Ninja Academy, Iruka said to his class, "Well, I don't know how you could have missed this news, but Hokage-sama wanted to make it known to everyone that we are to find this Funeral Parlor group and get them to work with us somehow. If you have any information on where to find Funeral Parlor, you are to report it to the nearest ANBU, who will take it to Hokage-sama and make sure you get rewarded for your information."

* * *

_A little bit earlier…._

_'Great… this sucks a whole lot,'_ Naruto thought as he looked out of his classroom window. _'Not only was I dragged back to Konoha because of Ero-sennin, but now I can't see Sakuinori any time soon, because Funeral Parlor isn't even from this world.'_ Looking down on his desk when he decided to rest his head, he continued, _'I know that I would have made the right decision, anyway… I can't stand seeing reality being enslaved by Imperium, regardless of the intention. Imperium doesn't have any right to do anything like conquer anything and everything.'_

Iruka, at that time, decided to continue speaking, by saying, "Oh, and one last thing before we get started. Our class has a new transfer student joining us." Turning to face the door, he said, "Come on in."

When the door opened, a random student looked and said, "Whoa! Check it out!"

Kiba turned to face the new student and said, "Hey, she's hot!"

"SHUT UP, KIBA!" roared the female population of the classroom.

"What? I was just being honest!" Kiba defended himself.

Somehow ignoring Kiba's antics, Iruka said to the class, "Everyone, with Haruno Sakura still listed as missing from the invasion, our class is currently shorthanded. So to fill in our empty slot, here is our new transfer student. Meet Yagahara Sakuinori."

With Iruka's introduction out of the way, Sakuinori walked into the room and presented herself in front of the class, wearing a conservative outfit that looked similar to her singers outfit in color scheme.

Before anyone else could say anything, Naruto stood up at his seat and declared, "No way! This can't be real!"

Shikamaru actually spared a sleepy, if annoyed glance up to Naruto, "What's up with him?"

Ino suddenly blinked as a thought went through her head, "Do I know her?"

Naruto thought in a bit of panic when Ino spoke up, _'I hope you guys don't recognize her as Sakura-chan.'_

One of Ami's stooges suddenly realized something, "Wait, Sakuinori?!"

A girl from the Kurama clan suddenly gasped, "From Egoist?! It can't be!"

Naruto simply felt his face hit his desk as he thought, _'Here I thought _I_ was the only one to know about Egoist….'_

Sakuinori, as if only hearing Naruto, answered for the whole class to hear, "Of course it is."

This set the whole class on a high amount of joy at knowing their idol was in their class.

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**Xamusel Fourteenth A/N: And CUT! Thank you for reading this prototype story to the bitter end. I hope that the next few days will be more productive than this in regards to how the next version will come on out.**

**Anyway, while I want to say more now, I have to send this off to my co-author for finishing things up on his end. In short? Here's Tomcat!**

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**Tomcat Fifth A/N: So let us know how we did. Actual reviews please. We need feedback, not flamers (points to fire department) and simple positive responses (points to massive pile of such); and we can't forget those that beg we continue this prototype (indicates where an artillery battery is ready to fire).**

**From here on, the show is largely going to be done by Xamusel alone. I'm taking a back seat to take care of my own work that's overly late. I'll still be around and no doubt you'll spot my writing style among his work. So don't think I'm just jumping ship!**

**We're going to largely reorganize how we approach things. There will be differences. So do expect them ole chaps. While this has been fun, we need to move onto the actual story itself. So expect to see us there.**

**TTFN**

**And back to Xamusel in the studio.**

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**Xamusel Fifteenth A/N: Also, for those of you curious, Daryl plus Tsugumi really do equal siblings in this context. Just wanted to make that clear now.**

**Anyway, this is where I would normally reveal something plot-related, but I decided against it for the time being. I mean, given that the story is being heavily revised, one would expect that things would change from this prototype to what will happen.**

**Well, now that this is done, I may as well say... see ya next story I publish!**

**_Sayonara no Tsubasa!  
_****_~Xamusel_**

**PS: Yes, this chapter is early, I realize... about seven hours early. However, I didn't want this to stay in my Doc Manager without getting it out there as soon as possible, if you get my drift.**


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